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If you\u2019re looking for a more sophisticated alternative to the current glut of unhinged dramas \u2013 The Girlfriend<\/a>, The Guest<\/a>, Coldwater<\/a>, all of which feature bonkers behaviour \u2013 then try Black Rabbit (Netflix). It stars Jude Law and Jason Bateman as a restaurateur and his disaster-area of a brother, and what at first could be mistaken for a knock-off of The Bear<\/a> slowly becomes a salty crime saga in which the pair get into increasingly dire straits.<\/p>\n Jake Friedken (Law) runs hip New York restaurant and private members\u2019 bar Black Rabbit, where all the beautiful people flock to eat $50 hamburgers and snort cocaine. It was Vince (Bateman), Jake\u2019s brother, who had the vision for the place and helped to make it a roaring success. But Vince is an addict \u2013 drink, drugs, gambling, you name it \u2013 and has been out of the picture for some time.<\/p>\n The show opens with a violent robbery interrupting a party at the restaurant, just as Jake is describing it as \u201ca place where the night could go anywhere\u201d. Then we revert to a month earlier, and a detailed explanation of how we got here.<\/p>\n Vince is grifting in Reno when we first meet him, and circumstances bring him back to New York. He\u2019s a magnet for trouble and his reappearance is the catalyst for Jake\u2019s gilded life to start falling apart. As the episodes go by, we see that Jake has been hiding problems of his own.<\/p>\n The role is not a stretch for Law. He can turn out this kind of character in his sleep: charming demeanour, suavely dressed, a little bit shifty. He exudes the air of a man who could sleep with his best friend\u2019s girlfriend without feeling too bad about it. Bateman does the better work \u2013 some of the best work of his career \u2013 making Vince shambolically likeable. Bad things happen to Vince, for which he mostly has himself to blame, and he reacts with a mixture of outrage, exasperation and humour.<\/p>\n Episode one is a slow build. A woman called Anna slinks out of the building. A man called Wes says he just wants Estelle to be happy. You don\u2019t initially know who these people are or what any of this means, but stick with it and eventually it becomes clear. The action builds, brick by brick, as some unpleasant types call in Vince\u2019s debts. Jake gets drawn in, because he runs the city\u2019s hottest restaurant and surely there\u2019s a lot of cash swilling around?<\/p>\n The New York depicted here is grimy, but basing the show around an achingly cool restaurant, with cameras taking us behind the pass to see chefs preparing dishes or stressing about the imminent arrival of the New York Times food critic, gives the series a glossier sheen than dramas such as Ozark and Breaking Bad, to which the writers of Black Rabbit clearly aspire. It isn\u2019t in the same league, but it\u2019s worth your time.<\/p>\n