Despite being dumped by his fiancée, Joe (Joey Kern) still goes ahead and celebrates a scheduled bachelor party with his buddies at Big Bear Lake. While fun was on the agenda, buddies Nick (Tyler Labine), Eric (Adam Brody) and Colin (Zachary Knighton) find themselves helping exact revenge by kidnapping the dude (Pablo Schreiber) responsible for stealing Joe‘s lover. After successfully capturing him and at times getting a bit scary – unsure if they might actually go ahead and kill the dude – we wonder if all this actually will make Joe feel any better about himself.
Kern not only stars in this Dark Comedy, but also writes and directs and that is admirable. Tonally, the Film never fully commits to being the Comedy it should have been, at times leaning a bit to a Thriller but not quite and also a heartfelt story about self-discovery – yet also not quite that either. Because Black Bear never finds itself like its heartbroken hero does in the end when he faces the metaphoric ‘big bear’ he is so crippled by, we never feel fully invested in Joe‘s journey. We want to feel for him but he doesn’t give us enough to make him redeemable. And most of all, a bachelor party should be fun though we never sense the guys are having any fun.
Talents like Schreiber and Brody are under-utilized, yet on that same note might be a draw for those curious for a little escape as leveFILM release Big Bear at home Tuesday, September 26, 2017 and also exclusively at The Carlton in Toronto Friday, September 22, 2017.
For advertising opportunites please contact mrwill@mrwillwong.com