Ideal Home is a 2018 comedy about a bickering gay couple who must now deal with the unexpected task of raising a ten-year-old boy.
It only makes sense to start with Paul Rudd. Why? ‘Cause here’s a guy who has evolved into one of this generation’s most entertaining entertainers, not quite a character chameleon but fearless enough to strap on just about anything he can fit into and make it work, refusing to get himself typecast. From comedy to drama and whatever lies in-between, he’s now one of those faces you instantly see in a movie and feel right away that no matter the rest of the flick, you know you’re gonna get some quality goodness at least from him. Heck, just look at this year’s earlier Mute. Now he’s headlining with Steve Coogan in Andrew Fleming‘s latest Ideal Home, an uneven if not sometimes funny story that never quite feels as authentic or impactful as it should, even if Rudd makes it worth a look.
Erasmus (Coogan) is the colorful and imperious host of a cable television cooking show, his producer, Paul (Rudd), also his long term life partner. Their relationship is defined by their petty bickering and snarky asides, the two only in stride when entertaining at their ranch or when their libidos catch favor. However, into this mix arrives a young boy named Bill (Jack Gore), who it seems is Erasmus’ grandson, the offspring of a son Erasmus had from a one-night stand some thirty years ago. With that estranged son (Jake McDorman) now in jail, the boy ends up in the care of his grandfather, and sure enough, things get all out of sorts.
Apparently loosely based on Fleming’s own personal experience, Ideal Home is a curious domestic adventure that is undercut by its essential lack of connection, even as some good work from Rudd helps to build some bridges. Bill is a troubled little boy, of course, raised on fast food and low grade parenthood, he initially refusing to tell his new ‘fathers’ his real name, going by ‘Angel,’ which causes some hiccups in getting the boy properly set up. Paul is already exasperated by Erasmus, the flamboyant and self-centered egomaniac often completely out of touch from what’s happening, and as such, spends a good deal of the film taking to giving Bill a head start and earning a few solid emotional moments.
The tonal shifts are perhaps expected, Fleming looking to be a bit outside the box in a story that naturally compels sentimentality. Both Coogan and Rudd are game for the show but the characters are all too one-dimensional, their relationship not explored to depths it seems hopeful it might. Instead of biting satire or even more nuanced observational social awareness, the movie settles on more generic moments that end up undercooked. Allison Pill shows up as a genuinely motivated social worker who works to makes sure Bill is in a healthy environment, which of course, in this story, is populated with gay porn and late night parties, creating a familiar arc in a character like hers.
But back to Rudd, who for me, makes the most of what he’s given. I love how hard Rudd always works even though everything he does seems entirely effortless and here he does it once again, just about saving the movie. Not entirely a loss, Ideal Home is good for a few laughs but not much more.