#7 COCAINE BEAR

STARRING Keir Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr. Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta. Written by Jimmy Warden. Directed by Elizabeth Banks. Running time 95 minutes. Budget $30 mill.

Welcome to this century's Snakes on a Plane, a film with a great title, and a simply superb trailer. It's moderately funny, nicely gory, and thankfully brief. It's not a terrible experience, but it's sad to see late great Ray Liotta in his last film. There's laughs to be had, some good set pieces but ultimately you won't remember this a week from now. 

The plot sees a drugs pilot dump millions of dollars of duffle bags holding packets of cocaine over a National Park. The drugs get eaten by a black bear and it becomes insanely addicted. Add to the mix, two school kid friends bunking off school, a mum looking for them, a gang of pathetic delinquents, a detective nearing retirement age, a drug baron and his two henchmen, a holidaying couple, an ambulance crew, the Park Ranger and an environmental protection officer all wandering around the park looking for the drugs or each other. Some of them, in fact most of them, will die, horribly and the rest won't. And that's the plot. It's all over nice and quick, it doesn't linger, it funny without trying too hard and you won't hate it. Elizabeth Banks directs it speedily and doesn't waste time. The plot contrivances matter not one jot, once you've accepted the central conceit.

The bear is CGi, which is disappointing, the kills are mostly funny and it's not shit. The best part takes place in the Ranger office when the ambulance turns up, and the best kill happens soon after. I burst out laughing several times and found the whole thing entertaining and funny. 

Look, I don't know what more you want from a film called Cocaine Bear? 

And it adds a new punchline to the joke: Do Bears shit in the woods? No, they do drugs and kill people while ripped to the tits on coke.

6/10