Disclaimer: We do not advocate for cocaine or drug use of any kind… especially in bears.

When it was announced that a movie titled “Cocaine Bear” was set for release, the hype was unbelievable, for the most part, due to the rather outlandish title. It was a meme similar to the so-bad-it’s-good cult classic “Sharknado”. However, when “Cocaine Bear” dropped, the plot and the acting failed to live up to the legendary potential of what could have been a great storyline. 

The movie is based on the real story of a plane full of cocaine crashing in a Tennessee forest and a bear ingesting that cocaine. The 175-pound black bear died following its ingestion of cocaine due to an overdose. “Cocaine Bear” is a dramatization of the true story, featuring blood, gore and a bear driven into a murderous rage by the stash it discovers.

The movie follows multiple perspectives as different groups encounter the cocaine-crazed ursine. From two children wandering into the woods and the people trying to find them to drug dealers who want their cocaine back and the cops trying to catch them, there were many different perspectives of the people’s encounters with the bear. On paper, this seems like an entertaining setup. However, there was one thing that made this movie flop: the atrocious acting. 

The acting was brutal, which is surprising for some of the names they were able to pull for this movie. Big-name actors like Keri Russel, Ray Liotta and Jesse Tyler Ferguson had large parts in the film, yet they all gave lackluster performances. In terms of acting, the only people who stood out were the characters Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and the bear herself. 

It was a consensus among the people we watched the movie with that it did not live up to expectations. 

“The movie was less than satisfactory and I would not recommend anyone to see it,” said senior J.D. Baumann.

The reviews by the general public were very mixed. While the casual viewer seemed to get some humor out of the movie, critics panned the film for its poor acting. 

“Cocaine Bear could’ve been a triumph if the jokes landed, but the zingers just aren’t up to the mayhem. And though the character actors are all capable of sterling work, there’s nobody to root for here,” said critic David Simms in The Atlantic.

The movie received a 70% score on rotten tomatoes, 54% on Metacritic and a 6.5/10 on IMDb, which corresponds to an aggressively average critical reception. 

Overall, “Cocaine Bear” was a disappointing movie. We would not recommend you spend 90 minutes watching it.