Ten of The Best Jason Bateman Movies To Watch If You Love Ozark

“Money is not peace of mind. Money is not happiness. Money is, at its essence, a measure of a man’s choices,” goes Marty Byrde’s witty definition of money in the introduction of Ozark. It remains the best summary of the four seasons of Ozark, the show that has reignited Bateman’s career after his personal troubles that saw him fade in popularity on the big screen. Bateman is still one of the best actors in Hollywood with a career spanning four decades all the way back to his teenage when he starred in Little House on The Prairie. Bateman still has great films, TV shows and docuseries to his name in the last decade and these 10 are the best of them…

Thunder Force: 2021

Melissa McCarthy doesn’t pass for a superhero because of the many comedy films she has starred in which is why this one just had to be a comedy. It was one of the few comedy films that were released through the pandemic and the introduction of Jason Bateman as The Crab gave it some more credit. The film is about two ladies Lydia and Emily who invent a serum and inject themselves so they can have superpowers and counter a group of villains called miscreants with superpowers in Chicago. Lydia makes friends with one of the criminals called The Crab to take down worse criminals. Well, Jason Bateman plays The Crab.

Zootopia

Disney announced that Zootopia will continue as one of its animated series meaning fans will get to see more of Nick the fox pulling off his cons while helping Judy the rabbit solve cases. For those new to the film, Zootopia was the fourth highest-grossing film in 2016 making over $1 billion. Zootopia or Zootropolis is the story of a rabbit that decided to be a police officer but whose boss doesn’t trust them to get the work done. To understand the city and get a tough assignment done to save her career, she teams up with a con artist fox named Nick who had just hustled her on her first day on the job. Jason Bateman voices Nick.

The Outsider: 2020

Terry Maitland, a little league baseball coach finds himself in trouble when a detective finds evidence of him having murdered a little boy whose mutilated body is covered in saliva and bite marks. The man insists on his innocence though since he was out of town at that exact moment and was even on the news which means he couldn’t have killed the boy. So, who is killing people in this small town and causing enmity between old friends and families to break down? The Outsider is bound to become just as big as Ozark although Jason may not be part of the subsequent seasons.

Office Christmas Party: 2016

Josh Parker is the chief technology officer at a loss-making branch of Zenotek. He has just finished his own divorce and has a thing for a colleague named Tracey but she and another 40% of the employees are about to be fired by the new CEO Carol. Josh and the branch manager Clay have to figure out a way of getting a big-money contract and save the branch culture of a bonus and a Christmas party while saving everyone’s job in the process. So, will the extravagant Christmas party plagued by insolent employees that won’t listen to their CEO save the company? Well, Bateman plays Josh Parker and the film made lots of people’s Christmas in 2016 so you might wanna check it out.

Smartless: 2021

This podcast should actually be renamed to SmartUp because that is all it is about. It is a podcast series hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett all of whom bring guests to the show to discuss shared experiences in life with lots of humour. They say that it is all about smartening up the SmartLess mind and happens to be one of the most resourceful celebrity podcasts you will listen to.

The Family Fang: 2015

Jason Bateman directed and starred in this one and he did a great job at both tasks. The film is about the Fang family who made a name for themselves as performance artists known for pulling pranks on the town’s people. While the siblings are struggling to make their adult careers work, the parents continue to do childish pranks on the town’s folk including giving people fake sandwich coupons just to cause chaos at a local restaurant. The parents pull off one final prank on the siblings by faking their own deaths and now Baxter and Anne have to figure out whether the parents are really dead or just pulling another prank. Jason Bateman plays Baxter Fang.

The Gift: 2015

Remember in the first season of Ozark when Del Rio tells Marty that he was the gift because of his money laundering skills? Well, the gift for Bateman’s character Simon in this film didn’t end so well either. It follows the lives of a happy couple Simon and Robyn Callem whose lives take a turn for the worst after they meet Simon’s high school classmate Gordon. Gordon starts taunting the Callems by sending them gifts and messing with their lives in revenge for something that Simon did to him in the past.

Game Night: 2018

Max and Anne are a fun couple who enjoys game night every weekend with their neighbours and friends but on this particular day, Max’s successful brother Brooks who enjoys bullying Max shows up. Max is jealous of his brother because he is wealthy and has everything Max is lacking including his dream car. When Brooks offers to host the next game night, they all agree but he decides to make it more real by getting kidnapped and having the rest of the players figure out clues and locate him. Max and Anne learn that they are in more danger than they imagined because Brooks’ dangerous line of business has put all of them in danger against ruthless criminals. Bateman plays Max.

Central Intelligence: 2016

This action-comedy is regarded as one of the best ever partnerships between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Jason Bateman didn’t get a lead role but as always, his short screen time was incredible. The film is about two former high school classmates, Calvin who was the golden boy of their school days and Robbie Werdicht who was bullied because he was chubby and nerdy. The two friends meet years later with the golden boy now disappointed with his career in accounting and the chubby boy being a successful athlete and CIA agent working on a massive projects. The two remember Trevor Olson who was the leading bully and that happens to be Bateman’s character.

This Is Where I Leave You: 2014

Judd Altman is having the worst time of his life after learning that his wife has been cheating on him for a year with his boss when his sister calls him telling him that his father is dead. He has to go back home and meet the rest of his complicated family including his ex-girlfriend married to his brother Paul and his childhood crush Penny who still has feelings for him. The family gathering gets ugly as everyone has old scores to settle and there are more fights than mourning during the funeral.

Have you watched any of these ten on this list? Do you know of any other Jason Bateman movies or TV shows we should watch? Do let us know in the comments below!