The first reviews for Cocaine Bear are starting to come in, and – dare we say it – the film might actually be good.
Here’s the trailer, but brace yourself for this one, it’s not pretty out there:
In case you’re not aware of this particularly strange film concept, it is loosely based on a true story from a few years back in which – you’ve guessed it – a bear gets hold of a load of cocaine.
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In real life, a black bear happened across a load of cocaine that had been ditched by a smuggler back in the 1980s.
In the movie version, the same thing happens, but the bear then goes on a murderous rampage, of course.
Whilst the star of the show is unquestionable the drug-addled bear, there is a decent cast behind this too, with Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr featuring, as well as Keri Russell, Game of Thrones and The Witcher star Kristofer Hivju, Alden Ehrenriech, Brooklynn Prince, Christian Convery, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
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What’s more, the movie features one of the last ever on-screen performances of the legendary Ray Liotta, who sadly died last May.
Anyway, some of the reviews so far have been remarkably positive, given that it all sounds a bit strange a chaotic.
It sounds like a lot of fun too, of course.
One review said: “#CocaineBear is the best movie of the year so far.
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“It's thrilling when it works as a slasher movie but with a bear, but it is also a hilariously absurd comedy like only [producers] Lord & Miller can do. The cast is incredible.”
Another wrote: “#CocaineBear is WILD. Super scary... and super funny!
“A total 80s slasher flick - but with a bear!!! Never lets up - and so many great actors! Tormund from GoT is in this!”
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There you have it folks – it might be a bit of a strange concept, but it’s also apparently good!
Even the director Elizabeth Banks is a little bit wary of the reception the film might get receive, claiming that she hasn’t really told her mother much about it before she heads to a screening.
Speaking to Variety, Banks said: “No one knows what to make of it when I tell them about it”.
She added: “My poor mother is the least informed,
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“She’s going to go with my aunts and they’re going to lose their minds. I told her she’s going to be mad.
“She will laugh and she’s going to love Margo Martindale and Isiah Whitlock Jr and the dog. “Not enough people talk about the dog, Rosette.
“She’ll love those parts, but she’ll close her eyes for a lot of it.”
The film isn’t without controversy, either.
Well, it is about a bear who gets a load of gear and goes on a rampage, what were you expecting?
In one scene, two children – played by Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery – take cocaine.
Banks said: “It was definitely controversial. There were conversations about, should we age up these characters?
"We all kind of held hands and we were like, ‘Guys, they’ve got to be 12.’ It’s their innocence being tested.
“That’s what was interesting to me about that scene.”
If you want to see that scene, and all the others as well, Cocaine Bear is in cinemas on February 24.
Topics: TV and Film, Drugs, Weird, Celebrity
Tom Wood