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1985, Knoxville, Tennessee. A drugs parcel is dropped from a plane, resulting in the death of the courier responsible after a misjudgment with a parachute. Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), a local cop, discovers the body, and sets a chain of events in motion. Drugs boss Syd White (Ray Liotta) sends his two minions Daveed (O,Shea Jackson Jr.) and Eddie (Aiden Ehrenreich) to find the drugs. Meanwhile, school friends Dee Dee (Brooklyn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery) skip school and discover one of the packets, with catastrophic results. But a great deal of it has been consumed by a massive bear...and it's going on a rampage.
This unbelievably true story, directed by Elizabeth Banks and written by Jimmy Warden, is actually loosely based on the truth, and given it's so wild, that's as good as can be expected. It's actually adapted from some pretty tragic source material, as indeed it seems a bear did really consume a tonne of dropped cocaine, but was found dead in the middle of the woods. But, as a film, with all the facts not established, the makers are free to take some creative license, and with material as unhinged as this, they're free to go mad.
The very title promises something not intended as some kind of deep, searing drama or to be taken seriously in any way, and it is indeed a short, sharp, whacky ride, with its tongue firmly in its cheek, regardless of how outrageously gruesome and gratuitous it gets. It just plays out, does it's thing and leaves you unable to comprehend just what you've watched, and even more nonplussed that it's a true story. But it's helped along by spirited performances from its young leads Prince and Convery, along with strong support from Keri Russell as Dee Dee's nurse mom, Margo Martindale as a sturdy park ranger, and most notably Ray Liotta in one of his last roles, still unnerving as the ruthless crime lord, even in a lighter role. There's also a nice soundtrack to go along with it (to wit, the bear running wild after an ambulance to Depeche Mode's I Just Can't Get Enough.)
It's a bizarre little Frankenstein's monster of a film, a kind of family drama, horror film, crime drama, all wrapped up in around an hour and a half, and all the more perplexing that it's based on a true story (or, at least around true events.) It's just a fun, wild, strange little ride. ***
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