Cocaine Bear (2023)
Cinema has allowed dreams and fantasies to live and exist in the real world. One of the biggest joys of watching films was seeing the materialization of fiction in a way never seen before. Before anyone left the atmosphere, cinema allowed humanity to take trips to the moon. Sometimes, however, reality can be weirder than fiction. For any doubters of this statement, the story of Cocaine Bear proves this. In 1985, cocaine was dropped over a forest in Georgia which allowed a 500 lb American black bear to become high. While in real life the titular bear didn't harm anyone, the story was still captivating enough to capture the minds of Hollywood with Elizabeth Banks being the director to bring the story to the big screen with the key addition of the bear going on the attack against anyone she stumbles upon. Following up M3GAN, Cocaine Bear is yet another bit of cinematic camp fun by Universal Pictures that calls back to the magic of trashy 80s cinema.
When a film takes on the title of Cocaine Bear, a seemingly impossible expectation is immediately put on the film's shoulder to deliver the madness that would naturally follow a bear taking cocaine. It is wonderful, therefore, that Cocaine Bear delivers massively on these expectations with a clear finger on the pulse of what the audience would want out of a film such as this. Rather than trying to build some deeper emotional core or thesis, the film dedicates its entire 95-minute runtime to chaos with brutal maulings and drug-snorting fun. Make no mistake that even with a large human cast, Cocaine Bear is the main character of her own story with the film knowing just how to handle the character. While the animal takes on the role of sadistic anti-hero as she comedically murders everyone in his way, the film also is aware that much of the fun of the film is simply seeing a bear on cocaine with scenes dedicated to Cocaine Bear hanging out and chasing butterflies that allow often hysterical breaks from the nearly non-stop carnage.
Few films have ever been released on this level cinematically with such a blatant acceptance of their own stupidity and lack of depth. Rather than even attempting most of the time to build compelling arcs of logic and statement, This repeats over and over again in a clear attempt to fill a feature runtime off the basic premise of a bear doing cocaine. While this violence is disturbingly fun, this formula does undeniably run dry by the end with the last 30-minutes of the film feeling overly repetitive with a lack of real evolution on the joke established well earlier into the film. When the movie does get the opportunity for a fresh sequence such as when two kids in the park, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery), find cocaine and end up doing it, the film disappointingly never feels willing to fully commit to a change in pace or focus.
This is also noticeable as the majority of the best characters are both introduced and killed early on in the feature. Notable highlights include the iconic Character Actress Margo Martindale as horny park ranger Liz, animal activist Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and a detective named Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who has a particularly funny running joke regarding the relationship to his new dog. These characters are fresh and fun with the goofiness of Saturday Night Live with a crucial cinematic evolution in craft and focus. These are the characters that are the most memorable and fun with each feeling directly ripped from a classic 80s horror film. Sadly, these are not the characters to take the spotlight.
There are two plots of Cocaine Bear that see a link from beginning to end. The first is that of Dee Dee and Henry with Dee Dee's mom, Sari (Keri Russell), specifically getting the focus as she hunts Dee Dee down after the bear takes her far into the mountains. The second is a drug hunt as Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) and Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) are sent to collect the cocaine scattered throughout the forest. While Daveed and Eddie's adventure have its moments, the 2023 renaissance of Alden Ehrenreich continues to shine between his work here and in Fair Play with the enticing promise of Oppenheimer looming in the future, these plots are nothing more than filler until the end with a rather weak final note that attempts to give the film a more conventional final act. Compared to the magic which was the first hour of the film, the final 30-minutes noticeably is just a weaker comedic effort which is a horrible case for Cocaine Bear considering the entire feature defines itself with having nothing deeper than its basic joke.
From a technical side of things, Cocaine Bear is awful. While for the majority of the film this only enhances the campy identity the film carries, it should be noted that some shots of Cocaine Bear are embarrassingly bad with the action between generated bear and real humans looking overly cartoonish at times. Even when the animation is stronger, it remains a rather average big screen project. The score by Mark Mothersbaugh is also wildly disjointed with some fun beats being randomly scattered throughout the awfully stale overall score.
Cocaine Bear is a film that knows exactly what it is. For anyone wanting dumb drugged-up-bear action, Cocaine Bear delivers on this expectation with genuinely hysterical timing and camp execution. Even with this self-awareness, it is also obvious that the Cocaine Bear joke is one more suited for a 60-minute sprint rather than a 90-minute feature with the film only losing more and more steam as the runtime goes. Even with this, for a fun night out at the cinema, Cocaine Bear is an easy recommendation.
When a film takes on the title of Cocaine Bear, a seemingly impossible expectation is immediately put on the film's shoulder to deliver the madness that would naturally follow a bear taking cocaine. It is wonderful, therefore, that Cocaine Bear delivers massively on these expectations with a clear finger on the pulse of what the audience would want out of a film such as this. Rather than trying to build some deeper emotional core or thesis, the film dedicates its entire 95-minute runtime to chaos with brutal maulings and drug-snorting fun. Make no mistake that even with a large human cast, Cocaine Bear is the main character of her own story with the film knowing just how to handle the character. While the animal takes on the role of sadistic anti-hero as she comedically murders everyone in his way, the film also is aware that much of the fun of the film is simply seeing a bear on cocaine with scenes dedicated to Cocaine Bear hanging out and chasing butterflies that allow often hysterical breaks from the nearly non-stop carnage.
Few films have ever been released on this level cinematically with such a blatant acceptance of their own stupidity and lack of depth. Rather than even attempting most of the time to build compelling arcs of logic and statement, This repeats over and over again in a clear attempt to fill a feature runtime off the basic premise of a bear doing cocaine. While this violence is disturbingly fun, this formula does undeniably run dry by the end with the last 30-minutes of the film feeling overly repetitive with a lack of real evolution on the joke established well earlier into the film. When the movie does get the opportunity for a fresh sequence such as when two kids in the park, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery), find cocaine and end up doing it, the film disappointingly never feels willing to fully commit to a change in pace or focus.
This is also noticeable as the majority of the best characters are both introduced and killed early on in the feature. Notable highlights include the iconic Character Actress Margo Martindale as horny park ranger Liz, animal activist Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and a detective named Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who has a particularly funny running joke regarding the relationship to his new dog. These characters are fresh and fun with the goofiness of Saturday Night Live with a crucial cinematic evolution in craft and focus. These are the characters that are the most memorable and fun with each feeling directly ripped from a classic 80s horror film. Sadly, these are not the characters to take the spotlight.
There are two plots of Cocaine Bear that see a link from beginning to end. The first is that of Dee Dee and Henry with Dee Dee's mom, Sari (Keri Russell), specifically getting the focus as she hunts Dee Dee down after the bear takes her far into the mountains. The second is a drug hunt as Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) and Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) are sent to collect the cocaine scattered throughout the forest. While Daveed and Eddie's adventure have its moments, the 2023 renaissance of Alden Ehrenreich continues to shine between his work here and in Fair Play with the enticing promise of Oppenheimer looming in the future, these plots are nothing more than filler until the end with a rather weak final note that attempts to give the film a more conventional final act. Compared to the magic which was the first hour of the film, the final 30-minutes noticeably is just a weaker comedic effort which is a horrible case for Cocaine Bear considering the entire feature defines itself with having nothing deeper than its basic joke.
From a technical side of things, Cocaine Bear is awful. While for the majority of the film this only enhances the campy identity the film carries, it should be noted that some shots of Cocaine Bear are embarrassingly bad with the action between generated bear and real humans looking overly cartoonish at times. Even when the animation is stronger, it remains a rather average big screen project. The score by Mark Mothersbaugh is also wildly disjointed with some fun beats being randomly scattered throughout the awfully stale overall score.
Cocaine Bear is a film that knows exactly what it is. For anyone wanting dumb drugged-up-bear action, Cocaine Bear delivers on this expectation with genuinely hysterical timing and camp execution. Even with this self-awareness, it is also obvious that the Cocaine Bear joke is one more suited for a 60-minute sprint rather than a 90-minute feature with the film only losing more and more steam as the runtime goes. Even with this, for a fun night out at the cinema, Cocaine Bear is an easy recommendation.