‘Cocaine Bear’
Cocaine Bear opens with an epigraph that cites Wikipedia, the one website most of us were taught never to cite for academic purposes — that’s when I knew I was likely in for a good time. And I was right! Cocaine Bear may not reinvent the wheel, but if you’re just looking for a good time, this movie is it. The movie, which was directed by actress Elizabeth Banks, is loosely inspired by the true story of a bear that ingested nearly 75 lbs. of lost cocaine in 1975, and the first scene of the movie (which features a delightful Matthew Rhys cameo) is the only real factual bit of the story. After that, it becomes more of a “what if,” weaving together a few different stories of people spending the day at Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest on the day the bear eats the cocaine. The late Ray Liotta is a standout in one of his final film roles, and Margo Martindale, hilarious as the park ranger, is involved in the movie’s best set piece, but the real star of the show is the bear. Performed by a motion capture artist before being animated using CGI, the bear shines whether she’s devouring bricks of cocaine, caring for cubs, or ripping someone’s leg clean off.