{"id":29977,"date":"2025-09-18T17:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T17:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/29977\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T17:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T17:22:07","slug":"black-rabbit-netflixs-new-jason-bateman-show-is-a-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/29977\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Black Rabbit,’ Netflix’s new Jason Bateman show, is a waste"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Actor Jude Law receives star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame<\/p>\n

Known for his roles in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Cold Mountain” and “Grand Budapest Hotel,” actor Jude Law received a star on the Walk of Fame.<\/p>\n

You can’t pull a rabbit out of the hat every time.<\/p>\n

Jason Bateman<\/a> was able to pivot his Everyman “Arrested Development” comedy persona into something more grown up with his aggressively dark 2017 to 2022 Netflix crime drama “Ozark.” That series, which Bateman starred in and also directed, garnered critical acclaim and Emmy statues handily. Now the actor and director is back to dreary family criminal woes with Netflix’s “Black Rabbit”<\/a> (streaming now<\/a>, \u2605\u00bd out of four), starring alongside Jude Law<\/a> with an unconvincing American accent.<\/p>\n

It seems “Ozark” was an outlier and not a template, because try as Bateman, Law and creators Zach Baylin and Kate Susman might, “Rabbit” can’t find the same addictive drama, violence and misanthropy that made “Ozark” a hit.<\/p>\n

Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead “Rabbit,” about a pair of brothers \u2212 one a perennial failure and the other a slick success \u2212 comes off as a dull, literally dark slog into a poorly explicated criminal underworld. It lacks that inherent watchability a crime drama needs to pull viewers into the macabre tale; even the most depressing stories can still have viewers glued to the screen if the characters and plots are compelling enough.<\/p>\n

But “Rabbit” is skippable at best and annoying at worst. Law stars as Jake, the owner of New York’s hottest restaurant, The Black Rabbit, and on the verge of leveling up his hard-fought career. His black sheep brother Vince (Bateman) shows up in town running from legal and financial trouble at just the wrong moment, and Vince’s very bad baggage threatens everything Jake has built.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem with “Rabbit” is that Bateman is wildly miscast; the actor feels like he’s cosplaying as a criminal, and not even long hair and a haggard beard can disguise his middle-class suburban-dad face. With a choice of the wrong star for one of its major roles, the tone and pace of “Rabbit” couldn’t help but be off. There’s a sense of confusion and awkwardness in every scene. Is it a two-hander or is one brother supposed to be the star? Who are we supposed to care about? Who is a good guy? Who cares?<\/p>\n

The series’ irksome visual choices do not help draw the audience into the story. It is often too dark to see the action, and camera angles are vexingly obtuse and off-center, a stylistic choice that ends up being a bug not a feature. The pace of the show is achingly slow and oddly placed flashbacks do not serve the storytelling.<\/p>\n

There’s no focus to the narrative. You could watch the whole series and be left emotionally empty as the plot pings around half a dozen different threads like a toddler bouncing around a playground. Vince has an estranged adult daughter; Jake is an absenteee father to a young son; Jake is partnered in his restaurant with a big celebrity; both brothers used to be rock stars; a former restaurant employee has an axe to grind with Jake. It’s all too much and not enough. A slew of stories and not a single one worth investing in.<\/p>\n

“Rabbit” is all about investments: who is getting in on the new big restaurant, who is worth putting your money and time into. But “Rabbit” can’t make itself worth your time or attention, in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Jude Law receives star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Known for his roles in “The Talented…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[441,442,29117,430,451,6147,8738,5136,5142,156,434,438,29116,29119,29118,29120,8307,440,456,435,453,8732,3403,1094,111,43,139,69,1642,5926,428,3410,439,436,762,418,417,445,8731,38,437,454,455,431,416],"class_list":["post-29977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-affiliate","tag-arts","tag-bateman","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-crime","tag-crime-u0026-mystery-films","tag-drama","tag-drama-films","tag-entertainment","tag-films","tag-guides","tag-jason","tag-jason-bateman","tag-jude","tag-jude-law","tag-law","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-movie","tag-movie-reference","tag-mystery","tag-negative","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-online","tag-online-video","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-programs","tag-reference","tag-review","tag-shows","tag-television","tag-television-shows","tag-thriller","tag-top-stories","tag-tv","tag-tv-guides-u0026-reference","tag-tv-shows-u0026-programs","tag-u0026","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}