Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan Play Gay Face In Movie “Ideal Home”

These two straight actors, Rudd and Coogan, who are both open about the women in their lives, play some serious gay face in the movie “Ideal Home.” I caught the movie the other night on Amazon streaming and I watched the entire thing in full. Rudd and Coogan play a wealthy middle aged gay couple who pretty much portray almost every gay stereotype there is. I know this because I’m gay…not fake gay…and I’ve been married to my husband for over 20 years. We are nothing like the characters that Rudd and Coogan play. I also suspect that they wouldn’t have done this with any other minority.

With that said, the basic premise of the film revolves around a child who goes to live with Rudd and Coogan because Coogan is his long lost grandfather, and the kid’s father is in trouble. Of course that can happen. Many gay men in real life were once married to women and they had kids with those women. Of course that’s plausible. But some of the scenes that follow left me wondering. For example, the kid finds an entire collection of gay porn DVDs not very well hidden. First, no gay couple I’ve ever known leaves their porn out in the open like that for a kid to find. Second, I don’t know anyone who even uses DVDs now. And even if it is a vintage collection, it’s still going to be hidden in a very discreet place. Actually, in my most recent book, Don’t Be Afraid of Virginia’s Woolf, there is actually a scene where one of the characters goes to a back closet to look for the porn he keeps hidden. He keeps it in a box behind boxes. He is just as discreet with his porn as most straight people are. How do I know this? Cuz I’m gay, not acting gay.

And that’s just one small example of a few of the flaws I found in this movie, with regard to being gay. And oddly enough, it really wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen and the kid plays an excellent part. The entire concept of the movie is great and I think most people, gay or straight, would enjoy it. I enjoyed it, and that’s because I”m so used to seeing Hollywood hire straight white privileged actors to play gay face. I have no doubt I’ll continue to see more of that in the future.

Here’s a link to check out more. 

Stereotyping With the Gay Ken Doll

Speaking of stereotypes, this article is about what happened when they tried to create a gay Ken doll back in the 90s. Oh, those straight people have no boundaries. If it wasn’t so sad and true it would be amusing.

There’s more here. I actually remember this happening, and at the time we laughed about it. The problem now is that some things never seem to change no matter how far we come. 

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