I’m an easy person to entertain when it comes to schlock films. You pass me a movie called Cocaine Bear, and I’m more or less sold on the idea on just the movie poster alone. Does director Elizabeth “Pitch Perfect 2” Banks, writer Jimmy Warden, and the production arm of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller do the title justice?

We can bear its weight, for sure.

Grizzling Feat

Inspired by true events from a 1985 news story, the movie is an exaggerated version of what actually happened. Instead of a dead bear, we get one that’s clearly coked up and addicted, to the point where it’ll attack anyone and anything in its way if it’s obstructing the white powder of life/death.

The major players-slash-potential victims set in a Georgia forest include Keri Russell playing Sari, a nurse-slash-mother looking for her lost kid (Brooklyn Prince), O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Daveed the drug dealer who brings his ex-colleague Eddie played by Alden Ehrenreich to retrieve the dropped cocaine bundles in the lost forest, a sheriff and a wildlife expert played respectively by Margo Martindale and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, a cop named Bob played by Isiah Whitlock Jr. with a slight fixation on his toy dog, and drug lord Syd Dentwood played by Ray Liotta in one of his last roles before his death mid last year.

Everyone here gets some equal screen time be it tense scenes involving the bear and grizzly, I mean grisly ursine-related deaths. Cocaine Bear doesn’t shy away from the gore, thankfully, and plays it up to eleven in many of its action and horror setpieces. My favourite kills involve an ambulance chase, someone getting mauled while atop a tree, and the waterfall-related climax. Characterization-wise, each role has enough to justify their spotlight and “death” send-off. I do like Eddie’s arc from being in mourning to taking charge of his life through a series of unfortunate bear-related events. Props should also go to kid actor Christian Convery as Henry, the little kid who tags along with Sari and also ended up getting some cocaine sniffs in early on while dishing some humourous lines only teens and adults would say. Somehow he’s grown on me throughout the mixed-up tale.

Bearable?

The biggest crux in this bear necessity of a niche-filler -a funny creature feature- is that it feels tonally unbalanced, as if its director doesn’t know what she’s aiming mid-production. I did laugh out loud at many of the predicaments, though some of the drama that came in felt stock and unnecessary. Perhaps it’s director Elizabeth Banks and writer Jimmy Warden who attempt to walk on the fine line of comedy and horror like your Tucker Dale vs. Evil type films mixed in with Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels-type hijinxes. It’s not a complete mess, but some jarring edits and awkward transitions just make the film feel rushed and unsure of its route.

Still, Cocaine Bear does what is advertised and nothing more: gives you awesome kills and set pieces, delivers some characters you might care about, and adds a bit of comedy that’s 50/50 in delivery and punchlines. If your expectations aren’t completely high for a premise with a simple title, you might grin and bear this.

Final Score: 60/100