I’ve been watching the US version of Shameless recently and I absolutely love it! It’s one of those shows that have you thinking “WTF? Does anybody actually live like this?” as it has absolutely no common ground or recognizable connections with the rather more civilized, law abiding and responsible world that I choose to live in. But I adore Joan Cusack, and Shameless has Joan Cusack in it, so of course it’s amazing!
She plays Sheila, an agoraphobic germophobe who is outwardly normal whilst being oddly naïve, yet simultaneously weird, kinky and morally questionable!?! How ever does she manage that? Sheila is the love interest to the main character Frank Gallagher – a parasitic alcohol fuelled narcissist who has six kids at home (played superbly by William H. Macy). Frank mostly bludges off his kids but largely leaves to fend for themselves headed by his eldest daughter Fiona, the overwrought high school drop out who tries her damnedest to keep the family ticking along. The relationship between Frank and Sheila is hilarious. He moves in with to take advantage of her disability cheques and what appears to be fantastic home cooking… but in return he has to put up with her VERY unorthodox bedroom habits which, let’s just say tend to leave him unable to walk properly!
Joan Cusack is absolutely awesome in this role. She brings a slightly wild-eyed craziness to her otherwise straight laced suburban housewife character. I think I’ve loved just about everything I have ever watched Joan Cusack in, back from Sixteen Candles, Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity. She has this quirky je ne sais quoi, and tends to pick the most unusual roles, that every time you see her name pop up in the credits you just know you’re going to be in for something fabulous.
PS – I probably wouldn’t recommend this show to anyone if violence, bad language, child neglect and extremely questionable behaviour are a problem for you – all those things we abhor in real life but for some reason are strangely entertaining in a ‘pain + distance = humour’ kinda way…