There is really only one reason to watch Black Rabbit, the eight-episode miniseries streaming on Netflix: Jason Bateman, who gives his best dramatic performance yet as Vince, a long-haired mess of a man making life difficult for his loving but so annoyed brother, Jake (Jude Law).
Jake is the owner of Black Rabbit, a restaurant/club in New York City he started with Vince, before gambling debts caused Vince to flee. Vince returns to the city after a few years, looking to get back into the family business—and bringing a shit load of trouble with him. As the tragedies mount, Jake remains loyal to Vince, no matter how bad he screws up both of their lives.
Law is good enough as Jake, although his New York City accent needs a little work.
Oscar-winning actor Troy Kotsur (CODA) is believably menacing as a crime boss who would prefer not to break your limbs, but he will seriously destroy you if you screw with him. His part of the story is solid, although he doesn’t have a lot of screen time.
Even though there are eight hours of story here, the show feels overstuffed. There are too many characters trying to factor into the plot—to the point that it gets confusing and annoying.
The show works fine when Bateman (who also directs a couple of episodes) is onscreen; in fact, he makes Black Rabbit very good at times. The last few episodes move at a crisper pace and feature Bateman and Law’s best moments—but there’s really no reason this story couldn’t have been condensed into a movie.
This one can be binged; all episodes were released at once. It takes some work to get through the dull stretches, but Bateman’s performance is a fine reward, making your viewing effort worthwhile.