“Cocaine Bear” (2023)
A Fun Ride That Requires Turning off Your Brain
As soon as news broke that “Cocaine Bear” was going to be made into a movie, many of us were left wondering if it would be any good.
After watching the trailer, excitement grew, and finally, the movie is out.
Depending on how you take its existence, you may either love it or hate it.
Personally, I thought it was an insane blast of fun.
The movie is undeniably crazy, and that’s what makes it work. It’s impossible to handle the story of a cocaine-addicted bear in a safe way, and everyone involved in the movie knew that.
Director Elizabeth Banks shows that she can create something unique and take ownership of her vision. It’s something she hadn’t done until now.
However, while Banks deserves credit, I believe producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also played a crucial role in supporting her vision and helping her take a chance on this unusual concept.
But the main reason this worked for me was that every single person knew exactly the movie they were in, well maybe Ray Liotta was in a different film because he took it super seriously, and Keri Russell was a bit more low-key to keep it all together, but even that worked perfectly.
The rest of the cast embraces the story’s ridiculousness and runs with it, it’s like every character was on Cocaine, and that energy just made the cinema experience a blast.
Watching O’Shea Jackson Jr. really made me think of his father, ice cube, and his chemistry with Alden Ehrenreich was great; cool to see Ehrenreich having so much fun and being able to show his charisma.
Margo Martindale was hilarious in this movie, and together with the newcomers Kahyun Kim and Scott Seiss they have one of the funniest scenes in a movie I have seen in some time, the ambulance scene.
Christian Convery and Brooklynn Prince do a great job being funny with never crossing the line of becoming annoying child actors; that is so easy to do.
And finally, also a heads up to Jesse Tyler Ferguson that, for some reason, it took me some time to recognise what is strange because I am a huge “Modern Family” fan.
The slasher, monster gore movie side of this movie worked perfectly; Cokey, the cocaine-addicted bear, is scary and really well done for such a small-budget movie.
The physical comedy, particularly the bear’s antics, is hilarious. However, the script and comedy delivery could have been better. Despite this, I was still laughing throughout the film.
Ultimately, “Cocaine Bear” is a movie that requires turning off your brain. The movie’s flaws become apparent if you start thinking too hard about it. However, if you can let go and enjoy the ride, it’s a lot of fun. Movies like this, which know what they are and take a swing, are something I miss.
Have you seen “Cocaine Bear”? What did you think?
And speaking of crazy true stories, what crazy story do you think would make a great movie?
Let us know in the comments.
