In 1985, a drug trafficker dropped sports bags filled with cocaine from the air. As usual, accomplices on the ground were responsible for picking them up. However, a black bear fell on one of said bags and died of an overdose. This actually happened. But what would have happened if the animal had survived? That’s what the movie imagines Cocaine Bear (Bear on cocaine), a very funny, very irreverent, and above all, very, very gore.
The film does not take itself, but not at all, seriously — the title is after all Cocaine Bear — and this is one of the main reasons for its success. In tune with the starting point, Elizabeth Banks’ staging is full of excesses and visual jokes, but also shows real inventiveness.
First known as an actress, Banks shone very early in comedy, among others in the deliciously decadent Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Zack and Miri make a porn). It is however broken with the horror, testifies some Brightburn (Brightburn. The child of evil), sort of anti-Superman with sauce The Omen (The curse). Without forgetting the horror comedy Slither (Incisions), by James Gunn, future director of Guardians of the Galaxy (Guardians of the Galaxy). In short, and without pun intended: Elizabeth Banks saw snow.
The action sequences of Cocaine Bear turn out to be amazing for the most part. We think in particular of the one where the furious bear chases an ambulance, which must be seen to be believed (during the preview, the packed room applauded and howled with laughter while displaying a collectively amazed face).
It must be said that the director has done well in this area with her previous film, the action comedy Charlie’s Angels (Charlie and his Charlie’s Angels), a failure on its release that is worth revisiting for its feminist reinterpretation of the august TV series. In this regard, Cocaine Bear loads of interesting female characters of all ages, starting with the heroine, Sari, whose pre-teen daughter had the bad idea of going for a walk in the woods without permission.
A colorful fauna
We specify that Sari, played with a perfect mix of aplomb and deadpan humor by Keri Russell, from the series The Americans (Americans), is the protagonist, but the fact is that Cocaine Bear after all, espouses a choral structure. Colorful and earthy, this fauna!
So these two henchmen (O’Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich) of a big trafficker (late Ray Liotta), this forest ranger (Margo Martindale), this detective (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), these two children (Brooklynn Prince, Christian Convery) and this trio of young delinquents (Aaron Holliday, JB Moore, Leo Hanna) all unknowingly throw themselves into the bear’s mouth.
Bear who only thinks of two things: finding more coke and devour all humans who cross his path. And white powder there is, and carnage there is. Certainly, the scenario of Jimmy Warden, his second after The Babysitter: Killer Queensequel to the Netflix hit The Babysitteris sometimes a bit disjointed, but the comic brilliance of the cast, the “second degree” musical choices from the 1980s and the assured production of Elizabeth Banks more than compensate.
Often we say to ourselves that the director won’t dare to do this or that, “go that far”. Not only does she go there, but each time she goes beyond: beyond good taste, propriety, right-thinking… The result – preposterous, vulgar, amoral – is willingly offensive. And absolutely gratifying.