By Mark Fields
Elizabeth Banks’ new horror comedy film, Cocaine Bear, can’t seem to decide which of its genres should take the lead, the horror or the comedy. As a result, it swings wildly (and uncomfortably) in tone between sickly funny and then a moment later casually gory. Those tonal shifts make it hard for the viewer to fully engage in a story that has the potential to be more entertaining. Very loosely based on a real incident about a load of Columbian cocaine that was dumped from a plane into a national forest in Georgia, the movie then ponders what might happen if a bear consumed some (ok, a lot) of that cocaine and then went on a rampage. An accomplished cast includes Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and the late Ray Liotta (in his final film performance) gamely get into the warped spirit of this film, but the outcome is neither scary enough nor funny enough to enthusiastically recommend.
