Proper about now I can sense individuals saying, “Who the hell cares about any of that? I simply wish to watch a bear do cocaine!” And once more: fantastic. You may get that right here! However the bear in query by no means seems like a personality or perhaps a actual animal. I get it — it is extra humane to make use of CGI than an actual bear, and I assist that 100%. However the bear right here appears so cartoonishly phony that it is arduous to purchase into it what the film is promoting. Irrespective of — certain sufficient, the bear in query begins devouring any unfortunate human that crosses its path. And because it turns on the market are a complete group of people wandering round.

There are two youngsters — Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery — who skip college to go on the lookout for a waterfall within the woods. Then there’s Keri Russell, taking part in the mom of Prince’s character, who learns of her daughter’s school-skipping and heads out to search for her. Margo Martindale is a surly park ranger who will get swept up within the search. Isiah Whitlock Jr. is a cop investigating the case of the dumped medication. After which there are two drug sellers, performed by O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich, on the lookout for the misplaced coke. These characters all have names, however none of them matter. They’re barely characters. The one one who has something approaching a storyline is Ehrenreich, who’s mourning his not too long ago deceased spouse. He additionally has to contend together with his father, a drug smuggler performed by the late, nice Ray Liotta in considered one of his remaining roles. 

All of those people must take care of the cocaine bear a technique or one other, with steadily amusing outcomes. As a result of, sure, “Cocaine Bear” is fairly humorous. However the movie is so shapeless, so shaggy, that it threatens to crumble at any second. It is truly one thing of a small miracle that it holds collectively. The movie can be so winking in its humor that it begins to get tiresome. It is one factor to be in on the joke; it is one other factor to maintain elbowing us within the ribs and asking us if we acquired it.

I am all for rampaging animal motion pictures. I am all for ultra-silliness. I am all for plenty of gore. However after some time, the repetitive nature of “Cocaine Bear” started to put on me down, and the humor began to fall flat. Maybe I am asking an excessive amount of from a film referred to as “Cocaine Bear.” However maybe we must always all need just a bit bit extra from motion pictures, even when they’re very foolish motion pictures about bears doing cocaine. 

/Movie Score: 6 out of 10