Cocaine Bear Review

Elizabeth Banks’ ‘Cocaine Bear‘ is a gloriously unhinged experience — a film that delivers exactly what its outrageous title promises and more. Loosely based on the bizarre true story of a black bear that ingested a duffel bag of cocaine in the 1980s, this absurdist horror-comedy blends high-octane violence, clever humor, and surprisingly rich character arcs to craft a movie that feels like a throwback to creature features of the past, but with a modern, satirical edge.

The film wastes no time diving into its madness. After a brief setup involving a drug smuggler’s ill-fated air drop, the bear’s cocaine-fueled rampage begins, taking place in the lush yet foreboding Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. Banks cleverly juxtaposes the bear’s feral chaos with a colorful cast of characters, including mismatched drug dealers, bumbling park rangers, rebellious teens, and a determined single mother searching for her kids. Each storyline converges in a series of wild, bloody, and often hilarious encounters with the titular bear.

What sets ‘Cocaine Bear’ apart is its commitment to its ridiculous premise while still delivering moments of genuine tension and character depth. Banks and writer Jimmy Warden craft a narrative that manages to intertwine humor and gore without feeling disjointed. The characters, though rooted in archetypes, are fleshed out enough to make you care about their fates — even if many are destined to become bear chow. Standouts include O’Shea Jackson Jr. as a surprisingly tender-hearted drug dealer and Keri Russell as a no-nonsense mom determined to rescue her kids from the forest’s chaos.

The bear itself, brought to life with a mix of CGI and motion capture, is both terrifying and oddly endearing. While the special effects occasionally falter, the film’s over-the-top tone ensures that these moments feel more charming than distracting. The creative ways the bear interacts with its cocaine stash and its unfortunate victims keep the energy high and the audience guessing. One standout sequence involving a high-speed ambulance chase set to Depeche Mode’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough‘ perfectly encapsulates the film’s balance of humor, suspense, and absurdity.

The 1980s setting is lovingly realized through period-accurate costumes, production design, and a soundtrack that seamlessly blends synth-heavy scores with needle drops. The use of anti-drug PSAs adds a satirical bite, reminding viewers of the era’s overblown moral panic while fully embracing the film’s ludicrous premise.

‘Cocaine Bear’ is not without its flaws. At times, the pacing lags when it attempts to inject sentimentality or delve too deeply into character backstories. Some performances, such as Alden Ehrenreich’s, struggle to match the film’s zany energy. However, these minor missteps are easy to overlook in the face of the film’s sheer entertainment value.

Banks has crafted a movie that is as much about the joy of storytelling as it is about a bear on cocaine. Whether you’re screaming in terror, laughing uncontrollably, or rooting for the bear’s survival, ‘Cocaine Bear’ is a wild ride that demands to be experienced with an audience. It’s a film that celebrates the absurd and reminds us that sometimes, cinema is at its best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

If you’re ready to embrace the chaos, ‘Cocaine Bear’ is a must-watch. Just don’t expect to leave the theater unscathed — or without a newfound appreciation for the carnage a bear can cause when it gets its paws on the white stuff.