"Cocaine Bear” is for someone who likes strange, gorey comedies with no actual plot line or connections to follow. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from this movie, but it surely wasn't what I saw. I expected a semi-scary, light hearted comedy, but it was an outrageously gorey comedy that was truly either hit or miss.
Synopsis
"Cocaine Bear" is a comedy horror movie centered around a real life event about an American black bear that ingested 75lbs of lost cocaine in 1985. This story follows the beginning, middle and end of illegal drugs being smuggled into the United States and landing all over the southern United States. Part of the drugs land in Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest where the American black bear ingests them and goes on a drug-fueled rampage.
Directed by Elizabeth Banks, starring Kerri Russell as Sari, O'Shea Jackson Jr as Daveed, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Peter, and Ray Liotta as Syd.
What I loved
It was hilarious. The entire theater continuously laughed at this movie (even when it wasn't very funny). That’s simply how high the comedy was. It made me curl into a ball at points and burst out laughing at others. It even brought down some levels of gore and made them tolerable because of characters' one liners.
I don't have anything other that I like than the comedy. Most characters were funny, and their one liners made you either giggle and shake your head or completely lose it. I don't think there was a silent moment in the theater (from the laughter).
What I didn't love
The other side of the comedy. While I thought a lot of the film was hilarious, some parts of the film felt like they were trying way too hard. I'm all for a movie where you laugh because it's funny, not because you know they want you to laugh, and some parts were just too on the nose for me. I wanted it to be funny on its own, not forcibly funny, and it did feel just too much in some parts. Certain characters like the park inspector, you could just tell their character was trying to come off as funny, but nothing really landed.
The gore. Holy shit, this film was so gorey that it was ridiculous. I didn't even know it was rated R until I bought the tickets, and even then, I thought it was rated that way for language, not gore. While this movie makes you laugh really hard, it makes you gag just as much, and in a lot of parts, the comedy couldn't overshadow how nasty it was. By the end of the movie, you’re like “We get it. It's a bear." I don't need to see a million disconnected limbs.
With the honorable mention going to the unfollowable and unemotional plot. There are several plot lines going throughout the movie, but none of them are fully fleshed out and make you want to root for the characters. A lot of the story felt like they wanted you to have that shock value, but when you're not connected to the characters, how emotional can you really be?
Verdict
If you want to watch a funny movie about a bear on coke with a ton of gore, then this film is for you. Otherwise, you can watch other movies that have more plot and are not completely disgusting. I definitely don't regret watching this movie, but I wouldn't watch it again.
I give "Cocaine Bear" a 3.5 out of 10.
