12 of the most joyously ridiculous, coke-fueled things in Cocaine Bear

A film that has very little or no subtext Cocaine Bear There is a lot happening. It’s a creature feature where the monster is a bear that’s high on cocaine. It’s a nostalgic trip back to the ’80s — the era of tight perms, Members Only jackets, and synthesizers. It’s a winking internet in-joke, with a cast that includes memeable celebrities like The Wire’s Isiah Whitlock Jr. (yes, he does say “sheeeeit”), TikTok star Scott Seiss, and Kristofer Hivju, a.k.a. Tormund Giantsbane Game of Thrones. But most of all, it’s 95 minutes of drug humor.

Elizabeth Banks directs the productionCharlie’s Angels, Pitch Perfect 2.This episode was loosely inspired and based on a true tale that was featured in an episode My Favorite Murder, Cocaine Bear has a frenzied energy to match its, let’s say, Stimulating The subject. The film opens with a scene of a man laughing maniacally while throwing duffel bags full of coke out of a plane, as Jefferson Starship — a cocaine band if there ever was one — blares in the background. Shortly thereafter, the same man crashes to the ground on the flap of an open airplane hatch. He then tumbles into the park below. The ski powder wrapped around him does not stop his fall. The bear is here to get fresh blood, but he stays there for the pep.

The rest of the film plays out in a series of interwoven storylines, anchored by the characters Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a middle-management type in a drug trafficking organization, and Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), son of bossman Syd (the late Ray Liotta), who’s in mourning for his wife and really isn’t up for a road trip to north Georgia to recover millions of dollars worth of lost drugs. He agrees to go along with Daveed. We then meet Sari (Keri Russ), a single mother whose daughter Dee Dee, (Brooklynn Prince), takes advantage of the fact Sari works night shifts to avoid school with Henry (Christian Convery).

Stache (Aaron Holliday), wearing a mustard-yellow shirt and with close-clipped, white-dyed hair, talks to Daveed (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.), wearing a sleeveless T and with a shirt wrapped around his bloodied hand, over the body of a passed-out CGI bear in Cocaine Bear

Universal Pictures

These characters’ paths cross those of a detective (Whitlock), a pair of bumbling park rangers (Margo Martindale and Jesse Tyler Ferguson), three shithead punks, and a very unlucky Norwegian (Hivju) in the Chattahoochee National Forest, where the taxidermied body of the real Cocaine Bear was on display for a while. (It’s currently in a roadside mall in Kentucky.) The violence escalates, from off-camera bush-shaking and graphic gore to blood splatter. As a result, the movie shifts from horror comedy to children-in-peril adventure.

The quippy dialogue remains rapid throughout, and although the film’s halfhearted attempt at a message lands with a splat,Cocaine Bear does all it really needs to do, by providing an hour and a half’s worth of winking, druggy, bloody amusement. The word “cocaine” is uttered dozens of times, if not hundreds, in this film. The movie is full of manic energy, erratic decision-making and madness associated with cocaine. Here are some of the best cocaine-fueled scenes in the film. Cocaine Bear Ed. note: There are spoilers!

The soundtrack. As we have already mentioned,Cocaine Bear opens with Jefferson Starship’s “Jane,” a song whose riffs practically drip down the back of your throat. Scandal’s “Warrior,” featuring Patty Smyth, rides a similar treble high, while the Commodores’ “Too Hot Ta Trot” relies more on its rhythm section to keep the energy up. Berlin and Depeche Mode are both ’80s dance-party staples, with synths to match Mark Mothersbaugh’s similarly keyboard-driven score. “On the Wings of Love” makes more sense in context, but the lush production fits the cocaine-music subgenre.

The way Alden Ehrenreich says “penne.” Think Forrest Gump saying “Jenny,” but with a P. Absolutely bizarre.

This is the scene in which the bear pulls off a long line of cocaine from a severed leg. Although the imagery is obvious, it highlights two important aspects of this movie. Second, it is obvious that the bear was created using CGI, which can be a safety issue for actor and animal alike. It’s a 35 million dollar movie with impressive effects. RRROr Prey. This is not the first or last joke about a severed leg. Cocaine Bear. They’re all made of rubber, but one does have a little pump in it so blood squirts out at random intervals, which is fun.

The inclusion of anti-drug PSAs from the “Just Say No” era, including the famous “This is your brain on drugs” ad. The bear doesn’t wear an ironic D.A.R.E. shirt, like all the coolest kids at Midwestern junior highs in the ’90s did. The spirit remains the same. See also: Henry and Dee Dee know what’s inside the wrapped package they find while walking in the woods, because they learned about cocaine at school.

The scene where Margo Martindale accidentally blows a random kid’s brains out while trying to shoot the bear. The blood and gore splattered all over the forest rangers’ station really kick the movie into a higher, more frenzied gear — ya know, like a bump of cocaine.

A CGI bear takes a flying leap into the open back of an ambulance, seen in a long-distance action shot, in Cocaine Bear

Universal Pictures

This is the scene in which the bear leaps into an open ambulance.This is the core of Cocaine Bear It reaches the high-octane level of action filmmaking. The scene starts with a pair of EMTs (Seiss and Kahyun Kim) pulling up to what they think is a routine call, only to find two people dead and one barely alive after the bear’s cocaine-fueled rampage through the Chattahoochee ranger station. It ends with Martindale’s face being scraped across several dozen feet of pavement, and Seiss and Kim being ripped to pieces while “Just Can’t Get Enough” plays on the soundtrack.

All throughout the film, Isiah Whitlock Jr. is carrying the frou-frou puppy.This is supposed to be a commentary about the domestication and care of animals. Perhaps it makes sense to have it explained in a club bathroom.

It is the way that the characters become so involved in their own conflicts, they forget about the drug-crazed predator behind them. The side effects of coke include paranoia and scattered thinking as well as hyper-fixation about a subject. The person who drinks coke is usually annoying everyone. These are the most dangerous consequences.

Because she has inhaled cocaine, this bear comes back to life when she is shot repeatedly. She’s fine! (We know she’s a she because Cocaine Bear collapses on top of Ehrenreich at one point, and to quote the film, “Her vagina is on my ear!”)

A bear cub with coke-dusted fur ripping Ray Liotta’s guts out. This wasn’t Liotta’s last role before his death — he currently has three films in post-production — but the movie does close with an “in memory of” title card.

A hand holding a pair of paper straws printed to look like rolled-up dollar bills, distributed as a gag gift at screenings of Cocaine Bear

Photo: Katie Rife

These straws were printed in a way that resembled dollar bills and distributed to press screenings. Universal knows exactly what it’s doing with this one.

It’s the simple fact that the bear can actually kill. Cocaine is what caused the death of the Cocaine Bear. But that isn’t nearly as much fun as a bear driven to violence by the massive quantities of drugs in her system, turning both herself and her cubs into raging cokeheads, slaughtering anyone who gets between them and their beloved white lady. The film also ends with a baby bear sniffing and wiping its snout, an image that just wouldn’t be possible if this “true story” stuck to the truth.

Cocaine BearThis film opens in theatres February 24,

#joyously #ridiculous #cokefueled #Cocaine #Bear