Cocaine Bear

Everything you really need to know is in the title of this film. A bear … does cocaine … and things get a little hairy. Directed by Hollywood darling Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear is a two hour rampage of a bear rolling in a different way.

Loosely inspired by the more tragic event in 1985, where a bear (now infamously knighted as Pablo Escobear) ingested a duffle bag of cocaine and sadly overdosed – Cocaine Bear takes a different turn and takes its furry titular character on a murderous rampage in a Georgia jungle, leaving a trail of destruction with the southern locals.

After drug smuggler Andrew C. Horton (Matthew Rhys) drops his loot out of a plane moments before crashing, his cut-from-the-same-cloth colleague Dentwood (the late, great Ray Liotta) sends two lower-class crims (O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich) to de-litter the Chattahoochee National Forest. However the loot not only ends up in the hands of two young children, it also finds its way into the bloodstream of a grizzly brown bear – and she just can’t get enough of it.

The dense greenery acts as a fantastic hunting ground as the bear lets nothing and no one get in the way of her next hit. As well as the smugglers trying to get their product back, there is also Sari (Keri Russell), who is frantically searching for her young daughter Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and her friend Henry (Christian Convery); park ranger Liz (Margo Martindale), who harbours a strange infatuation with local hillbilly Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); and Detective Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), who is on everyone’s tail. With an ensemble of this calibre, and an magnetic and hilarious woman behind the camera, what ensues is an absolute blast.

Banks has made a name for herself in some of the best comedies of the past 20 years. And while her previous directing work (Charlie’s Angels and Pitch Perfect 2) hasn’t been groundbreaking, she finds her home here with Cocaine Bear. It is a wild, thrilling and hilarious ride that requires very little thought – and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes movie-goers just want stupidity and absurdity to get us through these trying times. Cocaine Bear is self-aware, knows exactly what to give audiences and is a nice break from the over-saturation of sequels, reboots and superhero movies. There is a natural 80s nostalgic feel to the film that will tickle pink any cinephiles that are a fan of the era. And while the CGI is noticeably average at times, it makes up for it with the sheer ridiculousness in its action sequences. A noteworthy scene being sweet lil Pablo manically chasing an open ambulance full of screaming Georgians.

All in all Cocaine Bear isn’t trying to be anything else than what it is – a raging, roaring good time with a great director and a group of actors that are having the time of their lives being thrown around like rag dolls. Highly recommended if you just need a good belly laugh.

Cocaine Bear is in cinemas now.