Cocaine Bear Movie Review

Cocaine Bear (2023)

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Written by: Jimmy Warden
Directed by: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jake Johnson
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
An oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.

Verdict
It's an absolutely ridiculous premise, so ridiculous you almost have to watch it. This is exactly what the title states, and it's full of ridiculous scenes, violence, and gore. The bear drives the plot as the characters search for drugs and flee from the coked up bear out to kill them.
It depends.

Review
The premise is precisely what drove the popularity of this movie. It's exactly why I wanted to see it. It's based on a true story, though the truth basically stops at cocaine and the bear. What will this movie do with a bear on cocaine?

One of the first scenes starts with tourists hiking the forest and watching a bear. They quickly surmise something isn't right about that bear. This movie leans all the way into this bear. It's the plot driver at every turn, and this bear can do just about anything if the plot requires it.

We're introduced to various character related to the cocaine or the state park. The movie certainly taps into the excess of the 80s, and while it seems a bit cheesy, that's the point. This movie wants to be an over the top trip. This is a spoof of Jaws with more similarities to Sharknado.

The Cocaine Bear

The various characters keep the pacing quick. There's a mother looking for her daughter, drug dealers looking for coke, a park ranger and teen criminals terrorized by the bear, and now a cop at this park with a bear with an intense need for cocaine. Whenever plot lines get dull, this brings the bear, coke, or both back to enliven things.

This has a sense of humor and it keeps getting more ridiculous. This delivers on the wild premise. We get a crazy bear that goes on a murderous rampage throughout the movie. The victims are mostly clueless and unaware of just how much trouble this bear poses.