Nicht ohne meinen Schwiegervater (2005)

Psychotherapist Ulf Weiß and his girlfriend Sarah Gievenbeck want to get married. They go to visit Sarah’s parents for the weekend. Sarah’s father, Heinrich Gievenbeck, a judge at the Münster Regional Court, is extremely pedantic and keeps a close watch over his daughter’s well-being. That is why he wants to put Ulf to the test that weekend and see whether he really is the right man for Sarah. First, Ulf and Sarah have to sleep in separate rooms, and the next morning Heinrich asks Ulf to go hunting with him at the crack of dawn. Ulf does him the favor. But instead of shooting the deer, he accidentally shoots Heinrich’s beloved dog. The dog survives, but for Heinrich that alone is proof enough that Ulf is a klutz and not right for his daughter. However, Sarah’s mother, Sybille, and her brother, Siegfried (Siggi), convince Heinrich to give Ulf another chance. During a bike ride together, Heinrich, who is riding a tandem with Sybille, challenges Ulf to a race, which ends with Heinrich and Sybille in a roadside ditch. Of course, Heinrich blames Ulf for that too. While talking with Siggi, Ulf suspects that he is keeping a secret, and he is: Siggi is gay, but he doesn’t dare come out to his father. After they return from the ride, Sybille sends Ulf and Heinrich to the supermarket to get an ingredient for dinner. In order to arrive before the store closes, Ulf speeds at Heinrich’s urging, and they are pulled over by the police. Naturally, the officers insist that Ulf and Heinrich take a breathalyzer test. Unfortunately, they had both had a cognac beforehand. Heinrich deliberately drops the testing device, so Ulf and Heinrich end up in a cell at the police station, where Sarah has to bail them out. The next day, Siggi and Ulf overhear their neighbor Emma Tollkötter secretly arranging to meet Heinrich. They immediately suspect that the two are having an affair and follow them, hoping to catch them in the act. But they collide with a police car. Still, something good comes of it, at least for Siggi: he falls in love at first sight with Erich, the police officer who questions them. When Sarah and Sybille pick the two men up from the station, they tell them on the way about their suspicions concerning Heinrich and Mrs. Tollkötter. Sybille storms furiously into the hotel where Heinrich and Emma have gone. But it turns out that Emma was only helping Heinrich organize a surprise party for Sybille’s thirtieth wedding anniversary. After this embarrassment, Ulf himself believes he isn’t right for Sarah. The two split up, and Ulf sadly heads home. Two weeks pass, and finally Heinrich relents: he tells Sarah that he doesn’t think Ulf is so bad after all, and that if she loves him, she should go get him back. In the end, Sarah and Ulf get married, and Siggi has found happiness with Erich too.