Cocaine Bear Movie Review: Elizabeth Banks’ Dark Comedy is an Underwhelming Trip with Occasional Bursts of Excitement (LatestLY Exclusive)

Cocaine Bear Movie Review: Coming out of Cocaine Bear I had one word ringing in my head: Underwhelming. With a title like that you would have expected the film to be a high-octane adventure that leans heavily into the silliness and camp, and Cocaine Bear had maybe two or three scenes that actually delivered on that promise. It’s by no means a total trainwreck, but my god, are there missed opportunities sprinkled throughout the film! Cocaine Bear Trailer: Elizabeth Banks’ Film Shows How a Black Bear Goes on a Murderous Rampage After Ingesting Cocaine (Watch Video).

Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear is set in the ‘80s and follows a black bear who after ingesting almost 200 kgs of coke goes on a murderous rampage. In the middle of that, you have side-plots involving drug dealers reclaiming the lost coke packages while a mother tries to find her daughter in the middle of this mess. That practically makes up the absurdist plot of the film, which is surprisingly enough inspired by true events.

What I desperately needed from Cocaine Bear was for it to not take itself seriously, which it doesn’t, but sometimes the movie just forgets that there is a coked-out beast on the loose. It’s a monster film that runs into the tropes of the genre where we spend too much time focusing on the lives of the characters and not enough on the animal itself. Keri Russell’s Sari, especially, whose entire “missing daughter” plot could have been cut out and it wouldn’t have affected the story in the slightest.

I have to say though, the plot surrounding Alden Ehrenreich’s Eddie and O’Shea Jackson Jr’s Daveed, two fixers trying to find the lost cocaine, was certainly something I liked. The characters share great chemistry, and the situations they get into is what makes the film actually hilarious and entertaining. Isiah Whitlock Jr’s Bob, a detective searching for the cocaine, is a complete riot as well and I wish there were more scenes with him. Ray Liotta makes a posthumous appearance here and he sadly feels wasted.

Watch the Trailer for Cocaine Bear:

What doesn’t feel wasted though is the ‘80s aesthetic Cocaine Bear has going for itself. The movie very much feels framed like a classic B-movie from back in the days. It has that over-the-top dialogue going for it, and the soundtrack too has a heavy synth tone that reminded me of slasher films. That overall helps you pull into this world.

The bear in particular was something I was very much looking forward too, and when on screen, this coked out menace definitely delivers. That’s when Cocaine Bear is at its best because this is what I went to the theatre for, to watch an extremely high bear just rip and tear folks; a scene involving an ambulance in particular was a highlight. And that’s also what makes this joint so disappointing is because the bear attacks happen so rarely in the movie. There are some really cool kills here, with the bear even snorting a line of coke from a decapitated leg, and those were my favourite parts about it; I wanted more of that. Missing Movie Review: Storm Reid’s Screenlife Thriller Revels in Its Tense Atmosphere and Captivating Mystery (LatestLY Exclusive).

The third act also feels aimless. The characters are just there, and it felt like the writers didn’t know how to end the movie. It all keeps building up to a crescendo that feels like it missed a note and forgot to give a satisfying payoff. Cocaine Bear keeps on surrounding itself with ideas that it doesn’t know what to do with. It all just makes for 95 minutes where it feels like Cocaine Bear is occasionally utilising its campy concept to the fullest potential.

Yay!

The Bear

‘80s Aesthetic

Nay!

Missed Opportunities

Side-Plots That Don’t Have an Impact

Final Thoughts

Cocaine Bear should have leaned heavier into its camp. It does have a good foundation, but the execution completely falters and makes for an underwhelming experience that doesn’t live up to its high-octane title. Cocaine Bear is playing in cinemas right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 24, 2023 08:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).