Elizabeth Bank’s Cocaine Bear is based on an absurdly fascinating true story about a smuggler’s ill-fated last run and an animal that sticks its nose where it doesn’t belong. The real bear died after consuming 75 pounds of coke, but its taxidermied body would go through several owners over three decades before ending up in a Kentucky mall. Supposedly, one of the bear’s owners was country music star Waylon Jennings, although his son has contested this. While there’s more than enough facts to fill a feature, Cocaine Bear is only “inspired” by the true story. It otherwise uses the premise as a launchpad for a fictional action-horror-comedy. Whether or not that makes for a better film will depend on your frame of mind (or what substances you take before entering the theater). Matthew Rhys makes a brief cameo as Andrew C. Thornton II, the smuggler who dropped the cocaine packages that the bear would ultimately find. If you’ve never heard of Thornton, which you likely haven’t, do a Wikipedia search on him. His backstory is fascinating, and it’s only touched upon here. Speaking of Wikipedia, there’s an early gag concerning the website that’s arguably the funniest moment in the movie.
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Cocaine Bear Review | Flickreel
