Cocaine Bear movie review: A coked up good time

Who would’ve ever thought a bear doing cocaine would result in a wide release in theaters? I know I didn’t. But, the brand new movie based on a true story hits theaters on February 24 in Cocaine Bear. So, is the movie worth checking out in theaters? Let’s dive in.

Cocaine Bear follows the story of cops, criminals, and tourists in a Georgia forest where a black bear goes on a murderous rampage after ingesting lots and lots of cocaine. The movie was directed by Elizabeth Banks and starred Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, and Ray Liotta.

Cocaine Bear is stupid, ridiculous, and a fun time

The movie starts off with us seeing how the cocaine makes its way into t he forest in a pretty funny moment that has a fun cameo. From here, we meet our cast of characters to explore this story, which includes finding out whose cocaine it is and the stakes at hand in why it needs to be retrieved. After that funny moment to start, I got worried because, for the next thirty minutes, the movie got away from the funny and was rather boring.

That said, once the Bear gets involved with the story and starts her cocaine-fulled rage, that is when the movie turns into this no-nonsense good time I was hoping it would be. The entire movie reminds you of an 80’s B-movie horror/action film that you went to the theaters to enjoy to unplug from the world. You aren’t getting groundbreaking acting or stories, but you are having the time of your life.

A huge choice that was made in the favor of the film was making it Rated R. Because of this, the movie has some incredible gory moments that are gross and badass. Elizabeth Banks wasn’t afraid of playing within the lines of making this a grotesque film, and I love her for it. Had this film been rated PG-13, it wouldn’t have lived up to its full potential.

During the film, you could see that the cast was having the time of their lives. They knew the parts they played in this story were dumb, and they took advantage of just that by making their job as entertaining as they could. While we have a cast loaded full of fun people, Keri Russell is really fun in this, but she has a scene towards the end of the movie that shows her badass side.

Overall, outside of the first thirty minutes, Cocaine Bear lived up to everything I wanted it to be and more. It was an hour and a half of a bear who does cocaine chases people down and kills them (and some fun other stuff). It’s stupid, ridiculous, and a fun time to be had at the theaters. I highly recommend checking it out.

Cocaine Bear hits theaters on Feb. 24, 2023.