‘Cocaine Bear’ review: Violent bear-on-drugs film has a catchy title but no high

Who says only wolves get to howl at the moon? – Photos: UIP Malaysia

It gives me no pleasure to hate on Cocaine Bear. The director Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 2, the Charlie’s Angels reboot) isn’t the chief problem, even if her mashup of dismemberment, mugging and dubious heartwarming is this month’s working definition of “tonal problems.”

But with this script, the project was cooked long before the actors got to the set, ready to interact with a digital, coked-up bear to be created further down the production pipeline.