Cocaine Bear
An ineptly executed black farce mixes wide-eyed face-pulling with nauseating gore.
Claws for thought: Keri Russell and friend
We really must take the refrain “inspired by true events” with a fistful of salt. Pretty much every work of fiction – outside of fantasy and sci-fi – is inspired by true events, however loosely. And ‘loose’ pretty much sums up Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear, loosely the story of a black bear that, in 1985, consumed the bears’ share of 75 pounds of cocaine. In the film version, which is a cross between Grizzly and any horror-in-the-woods slasher pic you wish to name, the bear is a drug addict on a killing rampage. He is the Michael Myers of the forest, a force of evil that is seemingly indestructible and conveniently invisible at the same time. Considering the size of the beast, and the volume of firearms on show, it seems extraordinary that nobody shoots the thing (but then there wouldn’t have been a movie).
The funniest moments occur in the opening minutes when a caption is plucked from Wikipedia, reassuring the viewer that “American black bears typically avoid confronting humans.” We then see the drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys, husband of Keri Russell) gleefully hurling duffel bags of cocaine out of his Cessna, before knocking himself unconscious. Then things get more serious. However, Banks – who previously directed Pitch Perfect 2 and Charlie's Angels – being aware of the absurdity of the material, has aimed for a strong comic touch. And so there’s a lot of funny acting, funny music, funny wigs, funny screaming and even funny camera angles. And the story is almost entirely populated by idiots, regardless of what side of the law they are on. When at one point the bear passes out on top of Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), like a bearskin duvet, Eddie comments that its vagina is in his ear, thus designating its sex. But with its (her) head on top of his, it seems a physiological improbability. Still, on the plus side, Alden Ehrenreich does look like the late Ray Liotta, who plays his father and to whom the film is dedicated.
Other virtues are the horrendously realistic gore effects, which are bounteous and genuinely sickening in their detail. A really strong stomach is recommended. The ursine CGI is more than fit for purpose, too, while the scenery of County Wicklow (in Ireland) is to die for, doubling for the terrain of Georgia. Otherwise, the uneasy blend of broad farce and unrelenting butchery makes for a tonally excruciating experience. Even such normally dependable players as Margo Martindale and Keri Russell (wife of Matthew Rhys) are encouraged to mug for the camera, thus diminishing any sense of credibility. Had the humour been played straight, the laughs would have emerged organically and a combination of fear and nervous titters would have made for a much more satisfying – if uneasy – cocktail.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Kahyun Kim, Hannah Hoekstra, Aaron Holliday, Matthew Rhys, Kristofer Hivju, Ayoola Smart, Scott Seiss.
Dir Elizabeth Banks, Pro Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Aditya Sood, Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman and Brian Duffield, Screenplay Jimmy Warden, Ph John Guleserian, Pro Des Aaron Haye, Ed Joel Negron, Music Mark Mothersbaugh, Costumes Tiziana Corvisieri, Sound Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl and Dave Whitehead.
Lord Miller Productions/Brownstone Productions/Jurassic Party Productions-Universal Pictures.
95 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 24 February 2023. Cert. 15 .
