LAST RESORT
Ozark
Profanity-laced Rant/Review by Charley Rivkin
Editor’s Note: Every five years or so, friend of The Movie Guys Charley Rivkin gets so passionate about a movie or TV show, he has to rant on it, and we have to post it. Five years ago, he went on about how much he hated Prometheus. Today, he rants on Ozark…
I was very excited when I saw the trailer to Ozark, a show that promised drama and depth…a show where, I thought, Jason Bateman could finally show everyone that he didn’t just belong at the kids’ table of acting but, in fact, deserved a spot at the adult table…but I was wrong.
Ozark proves to me I didn’t even know what the adult table WAS and Bateman, accompanied by Laura Linney, have not only earned and deserve a seat at this table but are, in fact, just a small percentage of actors who actually belong there. And what I thought was the kids’ table before…I now realize is just where everyone else sits.
Jason Bateman has never been a bad actor. In my books, he’s been a great actor. Wonderful, in fact, but mainly that acting was in the comedic realm, and we have been trained to see comedy and drama as different. The award shows separate these genres, or don’t nominate off-color roles for actors, and this just proves how wrong on an intrinsic level those awards shows truly are. Ozark proves there can be two categories…but they shouldn’t be Drama vs. Comedy. They should be Drama vs. Holy Fuck I Didn’t Realize Anything Could Be So Dramatic.
Ozark will not be for everyone (maybe too much for many), but those of you who choose to see what real acting is…if you can stomach it…should watch this show with rapt attention. Put your fucking phones down, stop talking about your work day, sit back, push play and revel in the gods that created it – any part of it, down to the young barista who poured the coffee that was served to the assistant picking it up for anyone that has to do with this show.
They all deserve your praise….for they have created a project that has forever changed my views on how tall that adult table is, how big your emotional range must be, to even attempt to sit in those chairs next to Bateman and Linney. And best of all, how empty other efforts have been in comparison with whatever they have dared to call drama before.
Bateman has truly shown me my own mistake, in how I judge acting….for what he was before this show is exactly what an actor is…what every actor is. Until now. Ozark starts on a voice over about the darkness of where money will take you. And just keeps going down the rabbit hole. It’s about a family that lost each other in the day to day of commercial capitalist life but they can no longer hold onto the facade cause the Mexican drug cartel will kill them if they do…
…and that’s all I’m going to say about it cause go fucking watch it. I know it’s tough, but you deserve to see how amazing these actors are and they deserve you’re praise.
Ozark is airing now on Netflix.
