Review: ‘Cocaine Bear’ Is Exactly What You Expect It To Be: An Unhinged Blast

Photo from Entertainment Weekly

COCAINE BEAR (2023)

It’s Cokie the Bear’s world and we’re just living in it. Cocaine Bear is exactly what you expect, a downright ridiculous film that is a manic, mostly hilarious adventure filled with goofy dialogue, plentiful gore, and a surprisingly charming titular character.

In 1985, a drug runner’s plane crash, dumping cocaine into the Tennessee wilderness and leading to a black bear overdosing on the drug. While Elizabeth Banks’ new film is inspired by that story, it obviously infuses it with a ton of insanity. Look, when you walk into a movie entitled Cocaine Bear, you know you’re in for a wild time. From the very beginning, Banks’ latest delivers the laughs, delivered at breakneck speed (though not all of them hit as intended). There are moments where the dialogue is cringeworthy, the delivery of lines falling completely flat and leading to laughing at the film rather than with it. Another round of editing, maybe even a rewriting of some of the less-impactful scenes, would have elevated the film . Thankfully those problematic moments are few and far between. Cocaine Bear is a largely self-aware film that relishes in an over the top premise and delivery. 

Margot Martindale and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are unhinged in their roles, the former putting forth a performance unlike anything you’ve seen from her before and the latter clearly just letting loose and having fun. Martingale is part of one scene in particular that is a standout, the ambulance scene teased in the trailer, that is one of the best sequences in any film I have seen in recent memory. The cast members in general bring their A-games; Keri Russell is solid throughout, Alden Ehrenreich is surprisingly effective in an intentionally-cheesy arc, and the late Ray Liotta is effective as the inconvenienced drug dealer. O’Shea Jackson Jr. also brings the laughs in every scene while young Christian Convery has a series of memorable one-liners that will keep you giggling. Sure the characters aren’t all necessary and each could have used a little more meat to them, but that’s not what this type of movie is about. 

This is Cokie the Bear’s film. The CGI creation looks authentic and has a personality to her that, although infused with cocaine, has you rooting for her every step up the way. 

Cocaine Bear hits theaters Friday.

Rating: 4/5