Nicht ohne meine Schwiegereltern (2006)

Six months have now passed since Ulf Weiß and Sarah Gievenbeck’s wedding. Ulf is still having a few problems with his domineering father-in-law, Heinrich. That is why he even seeks treatment from a colleague, despite being a psychotherapist himself. Now everyone—Sarah, her parents, and Ulf—wants to visit Ulf’s parents so the families can get to know each other better. Ulf’s parents, Bibi and Julius, live in an upscale district of Düsseldorf and are highly respected members of high society. Julius Weiß owns a large company. On their very first evening at the villa, the Weißes’ neighbor’s daughter, Linda, turns up. And, as if that weren’t enough, she is Ulf’s childhood sweetheart. In front of his daughter-in-law and Sarah’s parents, Julius bluntly announces that he would have preferred Ulf to marry Linda. Ulf is mortified, and Heinrich feels that this completely confirms his prejudices against Ulf. Then the subject of children comes up, too. Ulf says he wants children, just not right now. Sarah takes this the wrong way and thinks he wants children, just not with her. Then Heinrich overhears Bibi and Julius making fun of him and his wife, Sybille, as “country bumpkins.” Once they are in their room, Sarah tries to make up and sleep with Ulf, but he does not want to. Sarah is angry and hurt because he has not wanted to sleep with her for six weeks. Ulf needs some fresh air and goes out into the garden. Suddenly, Linda is standing in front of him. When Ulf wakes up the next morning, he is in Linda’s bed, completely naked. The many empty wine bottles suggest that they had been drinking all night. He quickly gets dressed and tries to sneak back into his parents’ villa by climbing through an open window. But a woman sees him, takes him for a burglar, and calls the police. After clearing up the misunderstanding, he tells Sarah he slept on a lounge chair in the garden. His father then invites him to go to the gym with him. Heinrich goes along, too. When he sees a woman wearing a red tracksuit that reminds him of Linda’s underwear, he starts having visions of Linda and faints. Later, everyone goes to an elegant boutique to choose outfits for the gala, where Julius is to be named Düsseldorf’s Entrepreneur of the Year. Heinrich rides with Bibi, who suddenly makes blunt advances toward him. She also insults her daughter-in-law by repeatedly calling her Sandra instead of Sarah and advising her to wear a dowdy outfit. That afternoon, Heinrich sees Ulf secretly trying to get rid of Linda’s panties, which he accidentally took with him after that night. The next day, while everyone is at the racetrack, Heinrich makes an excuse to leave and takes a taxi to Linda’s house to confront her and expose his son-in-law as an adulterer. But she does not hear the doorbell because she is wearing headphones. A neighbor finds the strange man in Linda’s garden suspicious and calls the police. Heinrich is arrested on suspicion of being a peeping Tom. When they get home, everyone wonders where Heinrich is. But as the evening wears on, Sybille has drunk so much wine with Julius that she gives no more thought to her husband, who is desperately trying to reach her by phone. The next morning, Ulf and Sybille wake up next to each other! In her drunken state, Sybille had gone into the wrong room. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, Heinrich is released from jail and immediately sees that Ulf is once again at Linda’s house, with her standing naked in front of him. At the gala that evening, Sarah and Ulf have it out. But Ulf does not realize that the microphone on his chest—he had given a speech shortly beforehand—is still switched on. The entire room hears that he is currently impotent. This is only for psychosomatic reasons, though: he feels pressured by Heinrich to have a child with Sarah. Then Linda storms into the room, announces that Ulf is a liar, and claims she is pregnant by him. Furious, the Gievenbecks leave; divorce seems inevitable. But then Ulf gets a tip from none other than the arrogant Ralf: Linda is broke and has already tried this pregnancy scam on someone else. Ulf immediately drives to Münster to talk to Sarah and his in-laws. Sybille persuades Heinrich and Sarah to give Ulf a chance to prove his innocence. Suddenly Heinrich gets an idea: the case is on record, since the supposed other “father” is from Münster and sued Linda at the time. With some difficulty, Ulf, Heinrich, and Sybille obtain the files and set a trap for Linda. In a conversation with Ulf, she admits that nothing ever happened between them; he was simply too drunk to go home, so she let him sleep in her bed. Sarah has overheard everything, too, and she and Ulf fall into each other’s arms, overjoyed. It also turns out that Julius’s company has gone bankrupt. Bibi and Julius are not unhappy about it, though. They sell their villa in Düsseldorf and move to Münster. A few months later, Ulf and Sarah are happy parents, and Bibi and Julius, along with Sybille and Heinrich, are proud grandparents.