'Cocaine Bear' Review: Lots Of Cocaine, Not Enough Bear
Don’t feed wild animals, especially if the food is drugs.
The Bear in Cocaine Bear. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
When a movie has a title like that of Cocaine Bear, you expect two things; cocaine and a bear. Unfortunately, Cocaine Bear fails to deliver on its biggest selling point: enough screen time for its titular character — sometimes affectionately known as “Cokey the Bear.” Loosely based on a true story (where the bear died almost immediately), Cocaine Bear takes place in Georgia in 1985, as a drug drop goes wrong and leaves kilos of cocaine scattered throughout a national park as chaos ensues. This should give a rough idea of how Cocaine Bear will play out and the concepts it can execute, being able to do almost anything while featuring a coked-up bear. We’re here to see a bear snort a ton of coke and go on a rampage — that’s it. Unfortunately, this isn’t what we’ve received, as the film doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen before while leaving a yearning for more of the cocaine bear itself.
Potential minor spoilers for Cocaine Bear ahead.
The Bear in Cocaine Bear. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
The film’s script, penned by Jimmy Warden (The Babysitter: Killer Queen), starts off strong, featuring a European couple encountering the bear and being the first to witness the crazed actions that are carried out by a bear high on cocaine. This seems like a simple enough concept to create a horror comedy out of, right? Unfortunately, the script soon overindulges in trying to bring multiple moving pieces into the story for minimal comedic payoffs that only overcomplicate the narrative and take away from the star of the show. The film only really kicks into gear when the bear is on screen, as it can fully lean into the absurdity of the story as it works to devise creative ways to show off the rampage caused by the bear and avoid repetitive kills. We watch as a group of characters —park rangers, hikers, police officers, and “gang” members— encounter the bear as they’re put in what would likely be an unwinnable fight. With Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games, The Lego Movie) directing and Phil Lord and Chris Miller (22 Jump Street, The Lego Batman Movie) producing, one would expect a fair amount of laughs throughout the brief 95-minute runtime but will be disappointed to find them to be few and far between, with the film only garnering a few laughs (some out of pity) throughout its entirety, which still feels slightly stretched out.
(L-R) Keri Russell & The Bear in Cocaine Bear. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
However, that’s not to say that the entire runtime feels dragged out, but that certainly is the case with the third act. The film’s first act is forced to set up the extraneous amount of moving pieces that don’t contribute to the craziness brought by Cokey that we’re all here for. There are parts of the first act that do bring potential laughs, primarily when the kids (Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery) are on screen, as their interactions with the environment are absurd enough to bring a few chuckles. Cocaine Bear is able to find its footing once we delve into the second act, as the bear gets more screen time and we lean into the true premise of the film. The pacing picks up, as do the jokes, and the ensemble cast benefits from the presence of Ray Liotta and Isiah Whitlock Jr, with the latter’s deadpan-esque comedy being a standout when paired with Alden Ehrenrich’s over-the-top acting. Unfortunately, the third act slows down too much and has few payoffs, storywise and comedically, until the very end of the film.
For what it’s worth, Cocaine Bear seems to know what it is and shines when it can fully embrace it. The majority of the cast can commit to the bit and sell their parts, with Margo Martindale being the overall standout. If you’re looking for the best movie of the year, you won’t find it in Cocaine Bear, but if you want a 95-minute story that somehow works when all is said and done, this movie might just be for you.
Cocaine Bear is now in theaters.
