Main Cast: Til Schweiger, Katja Riemann, Joachim Krol, Rufus Beck, Armin Rohde
Release Year: 1994
Country: DE
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Much of the dialog in this very funny German film was taken directly from the two gay comic books by underground cartoonist Ralf Koenig on which the movie was based. Though the comics were written from a gay perspective, the film is slanted towards heterosexual couples. It tells the story of Axel, a handsome hunk with a taste for cheating on his girl friend Doro. When she throws him out, he ends up staying with his gay friend Norbert who is terribly attracted to Axel. Norbert is too shy to act upon his desire, and so, suffers in silence. Doro, upon visiting the two, becomes suspicious and wonders if Axel is also gay. Her suspicions about the naive Axel do not abate, even after her "shot-gun" wedding to him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Antonia Lang - Elke Schmidt; Martina Gedeck - Jutta; Kai Wiesinger - Gunnar; Christof Wackernagel - Ruediger; Heinrich Schafmeister - Klaus Dieter; Martin Armknecht - Lutz; George Roth - Dr. Rotger; William van der Kloot; Horst Scheel - Gunter; Leonard Lansink - Bewitching Jeanie
Credit
Harry Kuegler - Associate Producer, Martin Moszkowicz - Associate Producer, Elvira Senft - Associate Producer, Molly von Fuerstenberg - Associate Producer, Katharina von Martius - Costume Designer, Heike Hempel - First Assistant Director, Sönke Wortmann - Director, Ueli Christen - Editor, Torsten Breuer - Composer (Music Score), Simon Happ - Musical Direction/Supervision, Monika Bauert - Production Designer, Gernot Roll - Cinematographer, Bernd Eichinger - Producer, Sönke Wortmann - Screenwriter
Axel (played by Til Schweiger) has just been dumped by his girlfriend Doro (Katja Riemann), and needs to find a new place to live. He meets Walter (Rufus Beck), a transvestite who teaches straight men how gay men think. Walter talks Axel into joining him and some friends at a gay party afterwards, and tries to convince Axel to move in with him. At the party, Axel decides instead to move in with Walter's best friend, Norbert (Joachim Król), whose boyfriend has just left him. Later, at Axel and Doro's apartment, Norbert tries to seduce Axel while they browse old photos. Just when Norbert has shed all his clothes, Doro shows up at the door, and Axel hastily hides Norbert. Doro explains to Axel that she's expecting his child and wants to give their relationship a second chance. She is not amused to discover a naked man in the wardrobe, but Axel manages to convince her that nothing has happened. Excited about fatherhood and eager to return to Doro, Axel forgets about his new friendship with Norbert.
But soon Axel discovers a downside to the pregnancy: he no longer finds Doro sexy. Despite his engagement to her, he decides to stray when he encounters Elke, a former girlfriend. They are trying to find a place to have sex when Axel bumps into Norbert again. At first Norbert is angry with him for having left without a word, but Axel claims it's only because Doro was upset. Axel convinces Norbert to lend his apartment for the tryst with Elke. A few days later at Norbert's apartment, Elke gives Axel a mind-altering drug, and leaves him sitting naked on a table. Meanwhile Doro has learned that Axel went to Norbert's apartment, and she thinks that Axel is going to have sex with Norbert. On entering Norbert's apartment, she sees Axel naked and unable to speak, and in the bathroom she finds Elke and Norbert's not-so-gay ex-boyfriend playing in the tub. As she rushes out of place, she runs into Norbert, and starts to go into labor. Norbert drives her to the hospital, explaining everything on the way. Doro forgives Norbert and they become friends, but she ends the relationship with Axel for good.
