Ideal Home movie review & film summary (2018)

Coogan and Rudd's generally charming performances both give weight to their otherwise wisp-thin characters, but their swishy mannerisms also speak to the superficial nature of Fleming's presentation of Erasmus and Paul. All we know about these guys is that they drink, bicker, and are sad about how out of touch they feel. Also, they’re seriously loaded, which presumably explains how clueless they are. In that sense, the most radical and ostensibly funny thing about Erasmus and Paul is that they get to be openly gay and cartoonishly out-of-touch. That’s not necessarily a good look, but some may consequently find the protagonists of “Ideal Home” to be adequate in an overly precious "Will & Grace" meets "Mrs. Doubtfire" kind of way.

Others may be disappointed that “Ideal Home” is not more like "The Birdcage" or any of Blake Edwards's more inclusive comedies, particularly "Victor/Victoria." "Ideal Home" lacks those earlier comedies' fearless willingness to undercut gay stereotypes with sight gags, pithy one-liners, and dramatic asides that reveal how hard it is to be proud when society’s normalizing standard-bearers don’t see yourself like you do. "Ideal Home" is, in that sense, held back by writer/director Andrew Fleming's seeming lack of imaginative empathy. He doesn't get far enough into his characters heads to consider the underlying social pressures that motivate Erasmus and Paul's rocky relationship, and therefore never delivers any meaningfully funny jokes about what it’s like to be a pair of highly visible outsiders. 

Instead, Fleming focuses on how rich and clueless Erasmus is, and how frustrated and tired that makes Paul. Erasmus swans around his palatial ranch while filming a program about in-authentic Mexican and Indian food, including kitschy-sounding fusion platters like "Tandoori lobster." Erasmus also drinks too much, and makes big displays of emotion that are—as Paul correctly intuits—essentially insincere. This leaves Paul to do most of the day-to-day work of caring for Bill, a withdrawn kid who grew up in cheap motels and impersonal fast food restaurants thanks to his deadbeat dad. Bill—born "Angel," though he hates that name—starts off by sneering at Paul and Erasmus for being gay. He then makes Erasmus and Paul’s lives difficult by refusing to tell them his real name (thereby preventing them from enrolling him in school). Also, he won't eat anything but Taco Bell. He is poor, sad, and angry, which is apparently amusing?