Männerherzen... und die ganz, ganz große Liebe (2011)

Music producer Jerome needs a break from Berlin and moves back in with his parents in rural Heuchelheim. His mother has fixed up his childhood bedroom, and Jerome tries to get his life in order. He falls in love with Helena, who manages her parents’ riding stable. Schlager star Bruce Berger is bursting with energy and creativity. He presents his producer with two new songs: a catchy Schlager song titled “Die ganz, ganz große Liebe” (“The Really, Really Great Love”) and a rap song titled “Positive Energy.” His producer considers the songs inferior, insults Berger, and fires him. Bruce therefore decides to found his own record label, Bruce Berger Records—BBR—and starts looking for employees. Phillipp attends a childbirth-preparation class with his girlfriend Nina, who is expecting twins. The other, eccentric participants get on both their nerves so much that they quit the class when things eventually get too crazy. After learning they are going to have two children, Phillipp decides to open a second shop and “think big.” He rents a luxurious apartment in an old building and hopes to become wealthy soon. Despite her pregnancy, Nina takes a web-design course. Advertising executive Niklas learns that his wife has fallen in love with their couples therapist. She leaves him, and he starts looking for dates online. When he sees his ex-girlfriend Maria Hellström on television—she is a star in a soap opera about pilots and flight attendants—he realizes she was the love of his life and decides to find her again. Civil servant Günther has a platonic relationship with Susanne, a single mother whose husband Roland is in prison. Susanne wants to have sex at last, which poses a problem for Günther, as he is insecure and inexperienced. The main characters’ storylines begin to overlap. Günther constantly calls Jerome to get sex tips from the sexually experienced ladies’ man. His attempts to have sex with Susanne fail, however, and she then gets involved with the sleazy Schlager star Maurizio, from Bruce’s former record company. Maurizio, in turn, is engaged to Helena, whom Jerome has fallen in love with. When Jerome learns that the woman of his dreams is taken, his heart is broken. He does confess his love to Helena, but then withdraws. Bruce Berger hires Niklas and Günther at BBR and has Nina build him a website. Believing he is on the road to success, however, he ruins himself through compulsive shopping, parties, and drug binges, and eventually moves in, down and out, with Jerome’s parents. Roland cannot get his violent temper under control, costing him the chance of early release. Niklas does find his ex-girlfriend, but because of a series of misunderstandings, she thinks he is a deranged stalker who beats women. Bruce discovers that his former company has stolen his hit “Die ganz, ganz große Liebe” and that Maurizio is making a fortune from it. Bruce is devastated. Nina gives birth to the twins, and Phillipp accidentally starts a fire at his new restaurant through negligence. Since he failed to take out fire insurance, he is left with €30,000 in property damage and faces ruin. Although everything seems to be going wrong for the main characters, in the end it all turns out well after all: When Schlager star Maurizio tries to rape Susanne after a date, Günther saves her, and she gives him another chance. They get back together and successfully have sex. Helena learns that Maurizio sexually harasses other women, and subsequently gets together with Jerome. Bruce is able to prove that he wrote the Schlager song and becomes successful with it. He pays Nina the agreed €30,000 for creating the website, and she decides to expand her web-design work. Niklas writes Maria an explanatory letter and asks her to give him another chance. She agrees, and a romance begins to develop between them. During the end credits, we learn that Bruce also scored a huge hit in the Far East with “Positive Energy.”