Ideal Home: Rudd and Coogan’s charm saves film

TRY as you might to make them unpleasant people, you can’t mask the leads’ irrepressible appeal.

PAUL and Erasmus have a seemingly amazing life.

Free of responsibility and comfortably loaded, they have a ranch-like home in Santa Fe, glamorous careers on a cooking TV show and host raucous parties with interesting folk — the kind of indulgent life so many of us aspire to.

Erasmus (Steve Coogan) is an outrageous TV host who can’t pronounce Walmart and who partner Paul (Paul Rudd) describes as a “gay Butch Cassidy but not butch”. Their relationship is bordering on toxic but the two clearly have a complex history, the kind that despite the downs, is built on a foundation of love.

In the middle of one their parties, a little red-headed boy turns up and hands Erasmus a message written at the back of a Bible: “This is your grandson”.

Hmmm, naan bread or Taco Bell? Let me think about that.

Bill/Angel (Jack Gore) is surly and only wants Taco Bell for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He is the offspring of Erasmus’ estranged son Beau who was arrested for assaulting a prostitute.

They agree to take him in until child services show up. Paul and Erasmus are deeply unsuited to parenthood — when Bill’s arrival threatens to end their party, Erasmus yells out to their guests that he has cocaine in an effort to keep the good times rolling. Or when Erasmus suggests a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition and salad over video games and ice cream.

But it doesn’t take long for Bill to become part of their lives, and these two men — who would appear to be the least likely candidates — end up giving Bill the most stable family home he’s ever had. It’s not a conventional home, but it may just be ideal.

Ideal Home follows a lot of familiar beats and the story never veers anywhere unexpected — the same arguments, same realisations and the same obstacles (Alison Pill even pops up as a disapproving child services officer). The main difference here is that the story is about a gay couple who are unapologetic about their sexuality, which is also refreshingly not the central part of the film’s conflict.

‘Yes, we would rather have wine.’

Writer and director Andrew Fleming (Threesome, Nancy Drew, Dick) drew from his own experiences — he had a former partner with a son — and for all of the film’s more outrageous elements, there’s an authenticity to some of the little moments, like when a mum at a kid’s party looks horrified that the men were only offered beer instead of white wine.

Despite its fairly generic and surface-y story, what saves Ideal Home from mediocrity is the irrepressible charm of Rudd and Coogan.

Rudd is playing a much pricklier character than usual and his delivery of the film’s last line is an instant classic, not to mention how he rocks a scarf. And Coogan is clearly delighting in Fleming’s snappy dialogue, at times channelling the spirit of Bill Nighy.

Even though they play two people who are at times thoroughly unpleasant, Rudd and Coogan can’t mask their appeal and Ideal Home smartly leans on that. But, really, you could watch Rudd and Coogan for 10 hours doing just about anything.

Rating: ★★★

Ideal Home is in cinemas from Thursday, June 21.

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