The Selma star is excellent in a beautiful-looking, zany, 60s-set show about a former criminal. But it is a big pile of random whimsy with very little coherent narrative
In the blurb promoting Government Cheese, Apple TV+ describes it as “surrealist”. It isn’t, but it does have plenty of what is becoming the streamer’s signature style. Is your dramedy quirky, kooky and kind of cartoony? Is it set mid-century in the US, away from the big cities, where humble but smarter-than-average folk arch deadpan eyebrows at unusual events? Yes? You’ve got a full-season commission! Don’t worry about an engaging premise or a coherent narrative – we just want those zany indie vibes.
We are in the San Fernando valley, California, 1969. After a riot breaks out during a flood, a burglar and petty fraudster, Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), is released from prison, strolling back into his home town of Chatsworth in his one sharp suit, with the rolling, bouncing gait of a born huckster who has fatally high self-esteem. While incarcerated, he has invented a self-sharpening drill, the proceeds from which he hopes will aid him as he reconnects with his family and goes straight. But his neglected wife and sons are frosty and he needs to earn money faster than his supposed wonder tool can make it, so a return to criminality beckons – bringing with it all the lying and cheating that alienated his loved ones in the first place.
