Cocaine Bear

Director: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Ray Liotta, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Brooklynn Prince, Christian Convery, Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Ayoola Smart, J.B. Moore, Scott Seiss, Matthew Rhys
Running Time: 95 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Labeling Elizabeth Banks' horror comedy Cocaine Bear as "based on a true story" probably stretches things a bit, but it's at least loosely inspired by one. In 1985, A giant black bear did ingest a duffle bag of drugs worth $15 million, only to die shortly thereafter. Edit out that very last part out and the rest of this dramatization is an uproarious "what if..," calling to mind other campy animal attack movies like Snakes on a Plane or Anaconda. The commercials and trailer pretty much guaranteed this, and whether you're even a fan of the sub-genre, it's hard to accuse anyone involved of false advertising. 

There's something to be said for a movie that knows exactly what it is. No more and no less. With few grand ambitions, the premise doesn't runs out of gas, clocking in at a lean, mean running time of barely over an hour and a half, which isn't only a relief, but feels just right. After meeting the characters and getting a very straightforward set-up, chaos ensues, followed by lots of laughs and carnage.

In many ways, it's the ideal project for Banks, a filmmaker whose choices have endured the usual mocking reserved for movie stars turned directors. And the decision to make this definitely wasn't an accident, as if to shut down any misconceptions she's taking herself too seriously. But it's still a shrewd move, mostly because it works and ends up being a lot of fun. Apparently, her idea was to view this as the bear's fictional revenge story, with the real animal now gaining an infamy and respect it couldn't have achieved as just a helpless casualty. Strangely, that sort of makes sense.

It's 1985 when drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) drops a large stash of cocaine from his plane before knocking himself unconscious and falling to his death with a duffle bag of drugs in Knoxville, Tennessee. Local detective Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) identifies the body and links the coke to slimy St. Louis drug kingpin Syd White (Ray Liotta). But when the rest of the supply shows up in Chattahoochee National Forest's Blood Mountain, a giant black bear ingests it, becoming hyper-aggressive and out of control, killing a hiker. 

Skipping school, young Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and her friend Henry (Christian Convery) come across the drugs in the forest, putting them in the crosshairs of this dangerous animal. As detective Bob descends upon the forest, Syd sends his right-hand man Daveed (O' Shea Jackson Jr.) and grieving, emotionally fragile son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) to find and retrieve the stash. Also arriving is Dee Dee's mom Sari (Keri Russell), a nurse, who searches for the kids with the help of park ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and wacky wildlife activist Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). But as the bear consumes increasing amounts of cocaine and takes more victims, the chances of anyone escaping alive start to look a whole lot worse.

Despite the early steps taken to set this scenario up, it isn't long before the bear's on the loose eating any brick of coke it can find. The eclectic cast of characters all have differing motivations but once they come to the realization of what's happening, it's not difficult figuring out where the plot has to go next. Jimmy Warden's script may not have a handful of surprises up its sleeve, but the story's what it needs to be as far as crazy cocaine bear movies go.  

Once the action gets going, the gore and excitement rarely let up and Banks does bring a little extra flair to the proceedings and relishes the 80's setting, particularly with some key song choices (like in a thrillingly hilarious Depeche Mode-backed ambulance chase scene), Mark Mothersbaugh's synth-driven score and the costuming selections. We even get an opening "Just Say No" PSA montage featuring Nancy Reagan and in a fitting cameo from Smokey Bear, at least in cardboard form. But it's really "Cokey" we're more interested in and the CGI beast really doesn't look half bad in a movie where they easily could have gotten away with it looking far worse.

Aside from the bear itself, there are some surprising scene stealers, namely Ehrenreich (who has great interplay with Jackson) and a very funny Christian Convery, who gives a performance right out of the precocious, geeky action kid handbook and really nails it. And even if this isn't what most envisioned for a major headlining Keri Russell role, she kind of holds it all together, especially in the second half where her adventure with the kids arguably carries the most interest among numerous sub-plots. Acting vets like Isiah Whitlock and the great Margo Martindale predictably shine, and though this won't be the late Ray Liotta's final screen appearance, he's perfectly cast, comedically sending up the type of sleazy, intimidating heavies he played throughout his career.

In the real story, there's a missing block of time between when the bear took the drugs and its death, so this creatively fills in those blanks. While no one knows exactly what happened, it's a safe bet the animal uneventfully succumbed before it could eat and dismember everyone in a coke-fueled rampage. But a documentary on a quiet, sleeping bear isn't what we came for. All the actors understand the assignment and seem to be having a blast. And why wouldn't they? Cocaine Bear lives up to its outrageous title, which is all that can reasonably be asked of it.