A film like Cocaine Bear does not need a movie star. Similar to horror icons such as Michael Myers in Halloween, Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, or even recent pop culture breakouts like M3GAN, the “Cocaine Bear” itself is what audiences are going to see. A mistake that many films that are based on completely ludicrous concepts make is trying to turn the absurd into the basis of a straightforward action-adventure movie; many audiences walked out of Snakes on a Plane disappointed because the absurdity was contained in the trailer, yet the film seemed to be playing things straight. Cocaine Bear avoids this issue, because director Elizabeth Banks realized the film didn’t need one clear male hero to come in and save the day.
The premise of Cocaine Bear is almost superfluous, because it’s really nothing more than an excuse to get a group of wacky characters in the middle of a confined environment so that the titular “Cocaine Bear” can start going on its act of rampage. Cocaine Bear is incredibly liberal in claiming that it’s based on a “true story,” as the only shards of truth in the film are contained in an opening sequence where the drug runner Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) accidentally drops a significant amount of cocaine into the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. While in reality, a bear ingested cocaine and died quickly afterward, the film imagines a scenario in which the transformative power of the drug turned the bear into a ruthless killer.
It’s essentially the premise of a slasher film, so trying to take anything too seriously would have been a mistake. The audience is more invested in the novelty of a bear superpowered by cocaine than they are any individual character involved in the story. Banks seems to understand this, and thus she constructs a Coen Brothers-esque collection of goofballs, scoundrels, and idiots to make up her cast, similar to Burn After Reading or Fargo. The incompetence of these characters only heightens the absurdity of the film and makes it more entertaining; instead of conceiving a brilliant scheme to resolve the threat, the characters just make obvious mistakes in order to sustain the joke. In a film that rests so heavily on a ridiculous notion, a straightforward male action hero would completely wreck the narrative.
A Simple Enough Hook
Cocaine Bear certainly isn’t trying to invoke any serious emotional investment from its audience, but it at least uses one sympathetic relationship in order to gauge our interest. Sari (Keri Russell) is an overworked nurse who struggles to take care of her rebellious daughter Dee Dee (Brooklyn Prince). They’re clearly having relationship issues, as Sari fears that she can’t single-handedly raise her daughter, and Dee Dee thinks that she’s being ignored. Dee Dee goes into the forest in an act of defiance, prompting her mother to go look for her. These are relatively normal characters with no special skills; the fact that they end up having more bright ideas than the rest of the cast speaks more to the overall lack of intelligence used in this crazy situation.
Instead of pairing off these two female heroes of sorts with traditional romantic partners, the film simply surrounds them with more idiots that make all the dumb mistakes in horror films that audiences can see coming from a mile away. Dee Dee’s young friend Henry (Christian Convery) goes out of his way to impress her, but only makes the situation worse by agitating the Cocaine Bear. When Sari enlists the help of the local Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and the wildlife expert Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) in helping to find her daughter, they flub their duties and become nothing more than victims for the Cocaine Bear to ruthlessly trample over. Not only do their deaths reflect the “B movie” influences that Banks is clearly drawing from, but it emphasizes that the connection between Sari and Dee Dee is the only genuine emotional bond that the viewer should take seriously in the slightest.
Satirical Male Characters
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Cocaine Bear is seeing a combination of great character actors make up the wacky group of scoundrels and goofballs sent to resolve the situation. The late great Ray Liotta will forever be associated with his legendary work in crime films, so it makes sense to have him play an exaggerated version of the drug kingpin Syd White. Liotta brilliantly parodies his past roles in films like Goodfellas, The Place Beyond the Pines, and Killing Them Softly by playing a stressed-out, overworked drug runner desperate to retrieve his cash, even if it means gunning down an innocent bear and his family.
Liotta’s involvement becomes even funnier when he’s forced to send in his heartbroken son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) on the mission with his top enforcer Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.). Ehrenreich is a far more interesting actor that he’s often given credit for; despite being best known as Han Solo, he’s done great work as a romantic leading man. Nevertheless, seeing him as a pathetic, lonely criminal who cries over pasta was a hilarious way to subvert expectations, and allowed Jackson Jr. to do what he does best: look annoyed and curse. However, it’s the brittle friendship that emerges between the two, despite both of their personal issues, that makes the second half of the story so delightful. Maybe they’re not heroes, but they can at least see that there’s a point where they need to leave the situation.
A Sense of Balance
Banks understands that the audience shouldn’t necessarily be “rooting” for any of these characters to have a climactic standoff with the bear; the Cocaine Bear is rather an equalizer who takes out the truly villainous characters, and leaves those with potential to improve themselves behind. Perhaps Eddie can become a better father, Sari and Dee Dee can become closer, Daveed can learn to be a bit more tender, and Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) will be remembered for the love he showed his dog. None of them are action heroes, they’re just survivors.
Early reports suggest that Cocaine Bear is overperforming at the box office, which is notable considering the underperformance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While this certainly suggests that audiences are interested in seeing original films and have become overwhelmed by endless sequels, it also shows a genuine disinterest in traditional male action heroes. Good thing that Cocaine Bear doesn’t have any, and that’s why it works.