Papa auf Probe (2013)

Moritz, a macho womanizer, seduces his boss’s young wife, costing him his job as a furniture designer there. With his lavish lifestyle to maintain, he needs to find a new job as quickly as possible, so he decides to apply for a position at an eco-friendly children’s furniture manufacturer. However, a key requirement is that he be a married father. Under the circumstances, Moritz immediately pretends to be a family man, and now has to figure out how to find himself a family in a hurry. At his regular bar, he notices the waitress Nina and her children, Max and Jule. He asks her to pretend to be his wife in exchange for a fee, and after some initial hesitation, Nina agrees. She doesn’t think much of Moritz, whom she has found rather arrogant and disrespectful, but as a single mother, she can use every euro. It isn’t long before her first assignment: Moritz’s future boss has invited him to a family dinner. Apart from a few minor embarrassments, everything goes well. Almost too well, because next Moritz is told that his family absolutely has to come along golfing. To his dismay, it turns out to be miniature golf, which is beneath him. Once that is over, they have a weekend together at a four-star hotel to look forward to. Fitting the luggage for all four of them into Moritz’s little sports car proves a serious challenge. The hotel’s luxurious surroundings, however, make up for the trouble. Moritz gets along very well with Nina’s son Max, but things remain difficult with Nina herself and her teenage daughter. They keep their contact to a minimum, just enough to maintain the appearance of a happy family. That appearance begins to crumble when Moritz’s current girlfriend happens to show up at the hotel, causing a scene. The weekend is ruined, and Moritz immediately leaves with “his” family. His new boss is now ready to fire him, but when Moritz shows him a new children’s bedroom design he has just developed, the boss reconsiders. After spending a considerable amount of time with Nina and her children, Moritz has gradually grown fond of the three of them. When he takes Nina out for an evening alone, the two grow closer, but Nina suddenly pulls away without explanation. The next day, Moritz confronts her, and she tells him that she simply doesn’t want to be disappointed by a man again. To her, he is just a big boy, and one day his freedom will matter more to him than a family that isn’t really his. Moritz reluctantly accepts Nina’s decision, but her children seem to think otherwise. Max runs away from home, and in desperation Nina turns to Moritz for help. Together they find Max, who had run away simply to prove to his mother that Moritz could be relied on. Nina realizes she may have misjudged Moritz, and that during the time he had his “rented” family, he really had changed. A year later, they are a real family, and a little Moritz, their child together, has joined them too.