The Noble Family

Javi, Cha and Bárbara

A super rich father realises that his live-at-home adult kids are spoiled. To teach them a lesson he stages financial ruin and convinces them to join him on the run from angry creditors. The Noble Family (also known by the direct translation We Are The Nobles) is a Mexican farce that makes fun of the super rich with broad humour. The premise is not particularly fresh (based on a 1949 Mexican film The Great Madcap). Off the top of my head I can't think of what film it reminds me of most closely, but many movies such as The Valet and Welcome to the Sticks involve ridiculous conspiracies. It pays not to think about such plots too closely and go with the flow. Fortunately film is fast paced and the characters in particular Germán the father and Bárbara his daughter are engaging.

Germán takes the kids to his father's derelict house in the sort of Mexico City suburb they would normally be too frightened to go near. He wants them to find jobs while he gets on with the DIY. The film has a soft heart and the kids find ways of coping with life on the other side of the tracks. Living in such close proximity to his kids for the first time in years leads Germán to learn surprising things about them.

As this is a comedy everything gets nicely wrapped up at the end. But I felt all through the film that problems got solved rather too quickly and neatly, as if the director was always in too much of a hurry to get on with the next scene.

If you are a native Spanish speaker there is a running gag about Spanish versus Mexican accents that gets lost in translation.

Watch through the credits for the final scene.

Ian's rating 3/5 Anne's rating 2.5/5