In Andrew Fleming’s new comedy Ideal Home, Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, Ant-Man) and Steve Coogan (I’m Alan Partridge, Philomena) star as a bickering, hedonistic, gay couple who suddenly find themselves in charge of a wayward ten-year-old boy whose unexpected arrival forces them to rethink their own relationship and future together.
Partly based on Fleming’s personal experiences of living with a male partner and his son, the film has been a passion project for the director for over a decade, which would perhaps explain why, despite having its heart in the right place, the production relies too heavily on dated and cliché-ridden ideas to be completely believable.
Celebrity chef Erasmus (Coogan) and producer Paul (Rudd) have been a couple for over a decade. In between filming elaborate cooking shows and throwing lavish parties for their celebrity friends at their New Mexico ranch, the couple spend their spare time drinking heavily and arguing about the smallest and most innocuous things.
This inevitably changes when Erasmus’s estranged petty criminal son Beau (Jake McDorman) is arrested for theft and sent to prison, leaving his father and Paul in charge of his unruly son Bill (played brilliantly by Jack Gore). Predictably, relationships are put to the test and lessons are learnt as the couple slowly learn to take their responsibilities seriously, but not without a few bumps in the road.
