Black Rabbit is so-called as it’s the name of the bar owned and run by Jake Friedken (Jude Law – The Rhythm Section), who’s having a great night and a big party…
…except for some armed thieves coming in to steal some diamonds, before it goes back to one month earlier.
He has a son to look after, while the only person his wayward brother, Vince (Jason Bateman – Carry-On), looks after is himself, selling some hot items to ne’er-do-wells before things start to go quite a bit South in a jaw-dropping scene, which leads him to skipping town and heading for New York and back to Jake.
There was a time when they worked together at the bar, and things were good, but that was quite some time ago, and it’s not long before Jason Bateman’s character is getting up to more shenanigans as his Marty Byrde did in Ozark, getting in fiduciary trouble with a big debt, and the after effects will make you wince!
I’m certainly enjoying Black Rabbit – and it’s a gritty drama that’s easy to get into – but it’s a VERY slow burner. Jude and Jason bounce off well together, and CODA‘s Troy Kotsur, as no-nonsense baddie Joe Mancuso, comes across even more menacing when he has to use sign language to make himself heard, and for those not familiar with that, it certainly puts the frighteners on them.
If there’s any slight downsides, this drama also shows the lives of the bar staff, and it’s too light by comparison to the main meat of the programme, so those aspect don’t really work as well for me. Still,. there’s plenty, here, to get your teeth stuck into.
Plus, as well as Mr Bateman directing some episodes, so does his Ozark co-lead, Laura Linney!
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Black Rabbit is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from tomorrow.
Check out the Black Rabbit trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-70 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: September 18th 2025
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Jason Bateman, Justin Kurzel, Laura Linney, Ben Semanoff
Writers: Zach Baylin, Sarah Gubbins, Andrew Hinderaker, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Carlos Rios, Kate Susman
Music: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
Cast:
Vince Friedken: Jason Bateman
Jake Friedken: Jude Law
Anna: Abbey Lee
Val: Dagmara Dominczyk
Gen: Odessa Young
Joe Mancuso: Troy Kotsur
Wes: Sope Dirisu
Babbitt: Chris Coy
Estelle: Cleopatra Coleman
Roxie: Amaka Okafor
Tony: Robin de Jesus
Joe: Eli Kollman
Junior: Forrest Weber
Hunter: Michael Cash
Naveen: Amir Malaklou
Suki: Stephanie Jae Park
Lou: Andrew Barlow
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.