"All You Need is Love" also known as "my daughter-in-law is a man) is a German movie from 2009. It is a small-screen release and runs like most other television films here in Germany for pretty much exactly 1.5 hours. This is not by ARD or ZDF, but by Sat 1 and if you know a bit about German television, then this means you can expect the worst. After all, they are the ones who brought us the Wanderhure films. But the subject here is entirely different. Namely the film is about a young man who comes to town to have a wedding. Only problem is that he is engaged to another man and nobody, including his family, knows about his homosexuality. This is already where the lack of realism starts. It is pretty nonsense to believe he would have talked with nobody in his family about it before, especially as the film tries to sell us the young man as intelligent and likable. Just like his family. They are the ones (especially the mother) who are only afraid of the consequences because of what everybody in the village is gonna think, not because they are homophobes themselves.
The consequence is also a conflict between the two men in love obviously, but even if they are in the center of it all, this film revolves surprisingly little around them for the most part. It is much more about the village people. Saskia Vester, who looks like a German Martha Plimpton, was shockingly bad at times in her overacting and inability to truly deliver emotion or comedy. But the writing sure didn't help. It was pretty bad how there were zero shades basically in this film. Either they were likable goofs or homophobe antagonists. Add to that Jenny Elvers and you know what to expect here. Admittedly, Vester was probably even worse than Elvers with all her screen time. Also to give specific examples on when this film was at its worst, you can take the random rambling about mail early on in this film and very late. Besides the performance of the music title in the film's title at the very end was extremely unbearable. The version as well as the performance. I will admit that at times this film put a smile on my lips, but 2 or 3 occasions for a 90-minute movie just isn't enough at all. I am talking about the scene where the gay man's dad wants to take his son to a brothel and how the son says wonders what the father's idea was. that he would **** away his homosexuality. So yeah I even think that the acting and line delivery by some characters wasn't a failure really, but they just struggled also with the weak material they had. Final side-note: The mother's best friend did a solid job too with what she had. But this does not save the film from being a stereotypical piece of evidence how to not write a dramedy. I suggest you stay far far away. And honestly, I can only shake my head at people giving this a perfect 10/10. Imagine your 3 favorite films of all time and then compare them to this one here. You get the picture I'm sure. Watch something else for your own sake.
The consequence is also a conflict between the two men in love obviously, but even if they are in the center of it all, this film revolves surprisingly little around them for the most part. It is much more about the village people. Saskia Vester, who looks like a German Martha Plimpton, was shockingly bad at times in her overacting and inability to truly deliver emotion or comedy. But the writing sure didn't help. It was pretty bad how there were zero shades basically in this film. Either they were likable goofs or homophobe antagonists. Add to that Jenny Elvers and you know what to expect here. Admittedly, Vester was probably even worse than Elvers with all her screen time. Also to give specific examples on when this film was at its worst, you can take the random rambling about mail early on in this film and very late. Besides the performance of the music title in the film's title at the very end was extremely unbearable. The version as well as the performance. I will admit that at times this film put a smile on my lips, but 2 or 3 occasions for a 90-minute movie just isn't enough at all. I am talking about the scene where the gay man's dad wants to take his son to a brothel and how the son says wonders what the father's idea was. that he would **** away his homosexuality. So yeah I even think that the acting and line delivery by some characters wasn't a failure really, but they just struggled also with the weak material they had. Final side-note: The mother's best friend did a solid job too with what she had. But this does not save the film from being a stereotypical piece of evidence how to not write a dramedy. I suggest you stay far far away. And honestly, I can only shake my head at people giving this a perfect 10/10. Imagine your 3 favorite films of all time and then compare them to this one here. You get the picture I'm sure. Watch something else for your own sake.