Fandom Fans, can I get personal for a second? There is nothing I love more than hating on stuff. It brings me joy and sustains my lifeforce. To say I am Team Sith is an understatement. And, I know, many of you come to me to fill your hearts with hate. I am sorry to say this review may disappoint you.
I was invited to a press screening of Universal Pictures Cocaine Bear. Actual events inspire Cocaine Bear; that means a bear did coke…in real life. Not too familiar with the story or the film? No worries, I have provided the trailer for you.
Warning: Mild Spoilers!
Cocaine Bear is about how a group of strangers for different reasons find themselves on Blood Mountain. The perfectly named location is the home to many animals, including non-addicted bears. As you saw from the trailer, this forest is used for drug smuggling. Unfortunate events lead to a mother bear finding the bricks of cocaine and falling in love with the snowy substance. Yes, our Cocaine Bear is a single mother of two.
The cocaine begins to warp the bear’s mind and turns it into a raging monster, looking for its next hit.
Luckily for the bear, drug dealers are on the way but not to sell coke to the bear. These dealers (O’Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, and the late Ray Liotta) need to get their Colombian White Gold back to avoid certain death. Keri Russell heads to Blood Mountain to find her school-skipping daughter (Brooklynn Prince) and her scene-stealing friend Henry (Christian Convey). The film has an all-star cast but Convey somehow managed to outshine a movie with a bear on cocaine! Be prepared to see this kid in everything because he has a bright future ahead of him.
Cocaine Bear surprisingly succeeds as a comedy film, but also as a horror film, an action film, and a family film, and at times is really heartfelt. There were several moments when I and others in the theater got emotional. Yes, I cried a few thug tears.
Director Elizabeth Banks skillfully played around with genre and it shows in the visual style of the film. When things were funny, the scenes were bright. Scary scenes were accompanied by darker lighting and a lack of sound, and heartfelt moments often had golden lighting and music that tugged you right in the feels.
Cocaine Bear uses its hard R rating perfectly. Every gory scene, curse, and drug use is done with intention, not just to drum up ticket sales with its rating. Despite the very adult themes of the movie, I would recommend watching it with your family, kids included. I have a 13-year-old son and I can’t wait to take him to see this. I don’t believe there is anything in this movie that kids haven’t already heard or seen.
I give Cocaine Bear an A+
I have one nitpick with the film. There is a scene where the two kids eat some of the cocaine and they were fine. Listen, I know they are kids. However, if the movie can show a teenage boy getting shot in the head, it can show two 13-year-olds dealing with their first high.
Cocaine Bear is movie perfection! There is not a second wasted, every scene will bring you joy and delight movie-goers who have grown tired of a lackluster box office. Cocaine Bear is one of the best films I have seen in the past decade.
Elizabeth Bank’s Cocaine Bear officially hits theaters on February 24, 2023.
