Film Review : "Cocaine Bear"

 The viral title of the film is so silly it drew in the meme driven masses with the movie poster alone. The trailer sealed the deal. I went into the movie with my expectations set to the level of "Snakes on a Plane", so something so terrible it comes full circle to being good due to its camp. To my surprise, the budget was bigger and the acting better than "Snakes on a Plane". Not the only movie to come out this month that worked off a viral hype hurricane, "Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey" being the other film, hopefully it is not a trend this year, but they are quick to promote "Meth Gator" on the heels of this film's success, in its first weekend it clobbered the new Ant-man movie. It is certainly a lot more fun than Ant-man and funnier as well. Comedy is not normally my thing, but I will laugh at zany bear mauling and park rangers who shoot people in trying to stop them.

Based on true events, it's a fictional re-telling that director Elizabeth Banks calls the bear's revenge story. They are convincing in capturing their feel of Georgia in the 80's despite being shot in Ireland. There is more star power in this movie than what you expect from b-grade camp, it reunites "the Americans " actors Matthew Rhys with Keri Russell. However, the CGI bear is what is putting butts in seat, and it looks mostly convincing. My only complaint is in how the movie is shoot, it's too bright, the vivid colors work against blending the CGI beast. I get that 80s films were often shot in a similar fashion, but they were also not working with CGI characters and more practical effects, which could have played better for the gore, as the bodies often hit the ground like a fatality from Mortal Kombat.

I am not a fan of comedy, but unlike the movie itself the comedy here is dark enough to win me over. The child actors help keep the feel of 80s films without going Stranger Things. They did not go total hillbilly with the North Georgia setting, in fact the weird meth gang seemed like an odd depiction and more likely to have existed in California. This movie could have been darker and leaned more onto the horror side od the fence, but it was highly entertaining in the manner presented.  One way I gauge how good a movie is these days, especially when seeing a showing that is after 8 PM in a theater is did it keep me awake? "Infinity Pool" certainly did. Ant-man had some snooze moments, which can also be said about this movie, when we get diverted by the drug smuggling sub plot. Despite this I was fine with paying my 13 dollars to see this movie, and might watch it again.