Ideal Home blends family and storylines for solid result

IDEAL Home is a feel-good film about changing family dynamics that wisely resists the temptation to overcomplicate this funny, two-speed tale.

WHAT we have here with Ideal Home is two movies for the price of one.

Both prove to be good value, and blend together effectively as well.

The first and most accessible is a pleasant, well-paced comedy about the changing face(s) of the family unit.

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Nestled alongside, for those seeking something deeper, is some clever light drama about the tensions that can arise when a family forms where there was no family before.

Steve Coogan (The Trip to Spain) stars as Erasmus, the self-indulgent and rather oblivious host of a popular TV cooking show.

Paul Rudd (soon to reprise his popular role as Ant-Man next month) is Paul, the producer of the program and Erasmus’ loving, if exasperated partner for almost a decade.

Steve Coogan, left, and Paul Rudd in Ideal Home.

Not all is cosy and settled in the lives of this successful couple. Erasmus has never met a party, a drug, a drink or a diversion from the world he did not like.

It has eventually fallen to Paul over time to haul his partner back to real life, and it was a job he never signed up for.

The strain is beginning to show. Therefore somewhat inevitably, the relationship will soon face a surprise acid test in the form of Bill (Jack Gore), the biological grandson Erasmus never knew he had.

Bill, played by Jack Gore, shakes up their lives.

Under the tight, focused and accessible writing and direction of filmmaker Andrew Fleming, Ideal Home resists the temptation to overcomplicate its tale with too much heavy material for a mainstream audience.

The background intel about how Bill came to this world (as a child originally named Angel) and how his father (Jake McDorman) abandoned him is covered a touch too quickly.

The pair are suddenly faced with raising a child. Picture: Icon Films

Nevertheless, the spark shared between a willing, yet laid-back cast more than compensates for any minor flaws you may pick up on.

In particular, Coogan, Rudd and their (thankfully) un-precocious co-star handle this feel-good fare deftly and likably throughout.

IDEAL HOME (MA15+)

Rating: Three stars (3 out of 5)

Director: Andrew Fleming (The Craft)

Starring: Steve Coogan, Paul Rudd, Alison Pill, Jake McDorman.

Two dads? One kid? No problem.

Originally published as Ideal Home blends family and storylines for solid result