Cocaine Bear Review: Elizabeth Banks’ Wild Comedy Delivers as Advertised

What is there to say about Cocaine Bear, other than it is, indeed, a cinematic story about a bear that has done too much cocaine (which is to say: any cocaine)? The film is based on the 1980s true-life incident, in which an American black bear stumbled upon, and overdosed on, a bag of cocaine dumped by drug smugglers. That is a loose-enough framework for writer Jimmy Warden and director Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect) to fill with their own zany take on what transpired with that coked-up bear in the woods that day, and they certainly have a good time playing with that story. 

Surprisingly enough, Banks goes for the less obvious formula for conveying this story. Instead of just going for broke with a crazy horror-comedy rampage told from the bear’s perspective, Banks instead uses tonal juxtaposition to turn more grounded character stories into the sources of comedic payoff. 

It was always interesting to see Cocaine Bear locking down such a big ensemble of talent in its cast (Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and the late Ray Liotta). After all, every human character in the film is really just potential fodder (victims) for the bear (the slasher-killer). However, it becomes clear early on that whatever favors Banks called in to get these actors together aren’t going to waste: Every talented actor in the main cast is given an actual dramatic story arc to play out and they do so with serious gusto. 

Therein lies the true fun of Cocaine Bear: watching a set of faux-dramatic human stories playing out, only to have them all go off the rails when a coke-raged, killer bear comes onto the scene. Some players (Russell, Whitlock, Rhys) don’t take the “drama” too seriously and chew the scenery in the best way, playing a distraught mom, dutiful lawman, and eccentric smuggler, respectively. Meanwhile, Ehrenreich, Jackson, and Liotta all ham it up in an oddly deep story about a family-based crew of cocaine dealers looking for the missing drugs before they get in trouble, while also trying to sort through the emotional weight of a tragic loss within the family. On their own, each of these stories is played like something out of a bad indie movie – but when “Cocaine Bear” comes crashing in, all that drama gets swiped right out of the picture in favor of comedic hijinks and/or some gory kills. 

Cocaine Bear is a blessedly simple and silly fulfillment of its titular premise. The film is definitely in the running for cult-hit status, living on in GIFs, memes, and video clips for years to come. Most importantly: Cocaine Bear is as much fun as most viewers hope it will be. Is it fun that needs to be had in a theater? Not necessarily, but the crowd experience doesn’t hurt – especially at a matinee price. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Cocaine Bear lands in theaters on February 24th.