Isi & Ossi is a 2020 film from Germany directed by Oliver Kienle.
It's a romantic comedy. Isabelle aka "Isi" (Lisa Vicari) is a child of wealth and privilege, daughter of a filthy rich family that lives in Heidelberg. She is an indifferent student but her parents essentially bribed her school to give her grades good enough to get her into law school. However, Isi doesn't want to go to law school, and in fact has dreams of becoming a chef.
Oskar aka "Ossi" (Dennis Mojen) lives with his mother Betty in a tiny apartment in the more working-class town of Mannheim. Oskar's family is much poorer; his mother owns a gas station but went deep in debt to buy it and can't pay the loan or the taxes. Oskar's wacky grandpa is a petty criminal who has been in jail for most of the past 14 years. Oskar has hopes of becoming a boxer but, before he can advance to the professional ranks, has to come up with €8000 to stage a bout.
Isi's parents, who control the purse strings, categorically refuse to pay to send her to cooking school in America. So she decides to earn the money herself and gets a job in a fast food restaurant. There she meets Ossi, and they eventually hit on a scheme: they will pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, which should get her parents to eventually fork over Isi's trust fund as a means of ending the fake romance, which will allow her to go to America and also pay to stage Ossi's bout.
Naturally, romantic sparks fly for real.
Tropes:
- The Baby Trap: In the backstory, and why Isi herself exists. She eventually figures out that her mother, who was herself the child of an unfit mother and once was very poor, found her way into wealth by getting knocked up by Isi's father.
- Big Game: Ossi's big fight at the end, which, if he wins, can be the springboard for a professional career.
- Burger Fool: Isi applies to work at a burger restaurant. The supervisor is initially reluctant to hire her as most of the workers there are morons.
- Cool Old Guy: Grandpa, who is cheerfully profane and, despite his advance age, has ambitions of making it as a rapper.
- Face Palm: Ossi does this after Grandpa, on stage for a rapping contest, punches the other rapper in the face.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Both of Isi's parents, who categorically refuse to send her to culinary school and want her to become a lawyer.
- Headbutt of Love: Isi and Ossi at the end, in the boxing ring after he wins his fight.
- Likes Older Women: Oskar's best friend Tschünni has the hots for his mother Betty and repeatedly hits on her.
- Meaningful Name: "Ossi", a German nickname for "Oskar", is also German slang for people who come from what was once East Germany. Since eastern Germany to this day is poorer with an economy that lags behind the former West Germany, there's obvious subtext to this Uptown Girl, Wrong Side of the Tracks romcom.
- Mic Drop: Grandpa ends his rap by saying "I'm going to have a drink with my grandson," tossing the mic aside, and walking off.
- Name and Name: Isi and Ossi
- Narrator: A drolly humorous narrator sets up the opening scene and also ends the story.
- No Name Given: Oskar's grandfather is never named.
- Pop-Up Texting: Seen throughout, as Isi and Ossi text each other, or Isi gets texts from her agitated parents.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: Do Isi and Ossi, who are faking a relationship in order to chivvy money out of her parents, fall in love for real? Of course!
- Stupid Crooks: Grandpa went to prison some years ago because he tried to hold up a jewelry store, but forgot to bring a bag to carry the loot. At some point he got released, but went back to jail after only a week when he tried to rob a bank but wound up robbing a post office by default.
- Uptown Girl: A super-rich young woman falls in love with a poor boy.
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: Mannheim is portrayed as a blue-collar, working-class town, as opposed to wealthy Heidelberg. When Isi's friend Camilla accompanies her to Mannheim she acts like she's going on a wilderness safari.
- Your Mom: Grandpa, who reacts to being dissed by the other rapper in the contest by saying "I fucked your granny in the time of Bertolt Brecht!" (All the young people have no clue who Bertolt Brecht was.)
