The film “Cocaine Bear” is a Rated R Comedy/Thriller that premiered in theatres on February 24th, 2023. The story follows the murderous rampage of a Black Bear that consumed large amounts of Cocaine after it was dropped from a plane over Chattahoochee National Park. The movie is loosely based off a real-life incident where an American Black Bear ingested 75 lbs. of Cocaine and soon after died.  

The film has many different storylines and characters it follows, each eventually combining. The style was unique and fun with the way it jumped from one storyline to another, including lots of comedy and gore throughout.  

With the decision to add many different characters and storylines however, the plot sometimes got jumbled and was paced far too quickly or slowly depending on which characters were being focused on.  

The mother searching for her daughter DeeDee and her friend Henry after they skipped school and went exploring in the park feels like a B-plot and wasn’t nearly as entertaining compared to the storyline with Eddie and the drug dealer trying to find the dropped “merchandise” (Also to mention the fact that it made no sense the bear just decided to spare the young girl and “Kidnap” her halfway through the movie). The Park Rangers’ story line was funny but felt a little too ridiculous at times, the only time it really felt comical was when the bear was attacking them, and they got into hijinks.  

The cops introduced in the movie felt juvenile at times, as they weren’t treated as very serious law-enforcement; which would have been present if any of what was going on in the movie was actually occurring. The plot twist about the female cop being a double agent for the drug dealers was unnecessary and didn’t really provide anything to the plot of the movie because she left shortly afterwards, it was just random.  

Besides these criticisms, the animation of the Bear was very convincing, and there were some good scares included, like the scene in the ranger’s office when they found the bear covered in… ketchup. The ambulance chase was thrilling to watch and included some crazy gore with the bear attacking the people on board the ambulance and the eventual crash. The interactions between Ray Liotta and the rest of the cast were refreshing, and the scenes with Eddie, the punk teenager, and the drug dealer were hilarious because of the irony created in the situation.  

Overall, I recommend watching this movie if you’re not someone bothered by gore or crude humor, The movie has a goofy vibe and includes some “off” moments but was still very entertaining to watch for a couple laughs.