Cocaine Bear (2023)

Cocaine Bear (2023)

6/10

Starring          

Keri Russell

O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Christian Convery

Alden Ehrenreich

 

Directed by Elizabeth Banks

 

I must be honest with you—this movie is one of those easy to enjoy experiences when you take yourself to the cinema. For me, it’s the kind of movie that will eventually do really well on TV. After its theatrical run, it’ll land on some streaming platforms or cable movie channels and probably perform fantastically there.

The writing isn’t fantastic, and the directing isn’t top-notch, but I’m a fan of Elizabeth Banks’ work. Despite the flaws of this movie, she managed to bring out the fun needed to make it an enjoyable watch. That, in my opinion, is one of the key traits of a good director—taking a simple story and crafting it so the flow of the movie is maintained, and the characters don’t outshine one another. She also managed to link all the different plot points in a way that feels seamless. At one point, I even found myself thinking, “Wait, how did we get here?”

That said, the made-up scenarios and overly convenient outcomes led to everyone ending up in the same location as the movie wrapped up.

I’m not sure which parts of the movie are based on true events, but the main plot is simple. We have a bear that gets high on cocaine, becomes hooked, and starts aggressively searching for more. It all starts when a drug dealer tosses bags of cocaine out of a plane before jumping out himself. Unfortunately, he dies on the way down.

A bear stumbles upon one of the bags, eats some of the cocaine, and becomes highly aggressive. Its rampage begins when it attacks a couple in the woods, killing one of them.

In the same town, a mother sends her child to school, only for her daughter to skip class and head into the woods with her best friend. The two kids get chased by the bear and end up separated.

Meanwhile, the drug dealer who was supposed to receive the cocaine sends a two-man team into the town to retrieve the missing bags.

With the bear on a killing spree, we have multiple groups converging in the woods:

• A mother and a park ranger searching for the little girl.
• The two-man team sent by the drug dealer to retrieve the cocaine.
• Cops also on the hunt for the missing bags.

And at the center of it all is our high, aggressive bear on a rampage, relentlessly searching for more cocaine.

I totally enjoyed myself, and you would too if you see this movie.