Cocaine Bear. What else can I say? The title pretty much says it all. Okay, I guess I better offer a bit of a plot summary.
The movie is based on a true story that happened in Georgia in 1985 when a drug smuggler dropped a shipment of cocaine from an airplane, but when he parachutes, he’s knocked unconscious and falls to his death.
His shipments find their way to the Chattahoochee-Oconee Forest, where a black bear ingests the cocaine and goes on a rampage. There. I just described the plot in a nutshell.
Keri Russell stars as a single mom who finds her daughter skipping school in the same forest as the Cocaine Bear. Her daughter (Brooklynn Prince) and the daughter’s best friend (Christian Convery) find other bags of cocaine and decide to try some before they’re spotted by the bear and disappear.
Meanwhile, a drug lord (the late Ray Liotta) orders his son (Aldren Ehrenreich) and his associate (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) to find what’s left of the cocaine and bring it back to him. If all of this wasn’t enough, a detective (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) is also on the case, and he puts two and two together that the cocaine is connected to the drug lord.
The movie is advertised as being an over-the-top spectacle, but its moments of sheer insanity only come in small increments. However, when those moments come, they do have a fierce energy and, admittedly, some genuine LOL moments. Perhaps the highlight of the movie is when the bear, still on a high, is chasing down an ambulance after it’s already attacked a park ranger (Margo Martindale) while Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” blares in the background. It’s actually hilarious stuff. Another great moment occurs when the two associates encounter a teenager in the woods, followed by the detective and, of course, the bear. The bear ingests more cocaine and gets knocked out, and collapses on the drug lord’s son. They’re both still alive afterward.
Cocaine Bear is one of those movies where you pretty much know what to expect going in. I have to say that I was expecting more levels of unabashed lunacy, but the movie instead takes a much more reserved approach which may disappoint some audiences.
I found myself in the first half waiting for that lunacy to kick in, but it never happened. Instead, the movie takes its time to establish the characters, but the second half compensates by giving us that anticipated madness. I never laughed as much as I wanted to, but when I did, it was well deserved.
For anyone who appreciated Snakes on a Plane or Sharknado or any other movie where it’s really more of a jumble of stuff than an actual plot, Cocaine Bear works well as a passable, marginally entertaining romp.
Grade: B
(Rated R for bloody violence and gore, drug content, and language throughout.)
