We’ve seen the rags to riches story far too many times. While those can certainly be inspiring (and tiresomely common), they’re nowhere near as amusing or entertaining to watch than the reverse: riches to rags.

In the Mexican comedy "We Are The Nobles," there’s a scheme at its center that forces riches, or in this case three spoiled rich 20-somethings, into working rags to prove a point that they’ll hopefully learn from. It’s a breezy foreign affair with a satirical nibble rather than a bite.

A construction mogul Germán Noble (Gonzalo Vega) is tired of his grown children’s child-like, spoiled lifestyle. After all, they do have loads of cash to act this way. His eldest son Javi (Luis Gerardo Méndez) is a materialistic party boy who keeps trying to pitch an absurd business venture that no one cares to fund, even his own father. The sole daughter of the family Bárbara (Karla Souza) acts like a diva but without the fame that goes along with it. She has such a sour attitude that you would not want to get on her bad side, especially if you're a waiter who puts melted goat cheese on her salad. The second son Cha (Juan Pablo Gil) is a suave hipster who is kicked out of college for getting caught having sex with one of his teachers.

The problem here is that these three grown children haven’t worked for the wealth that they’ve inherited, and this is a growing concern for Germán, especially after he suffers a mild heart attack. Shortly after he recovers, he sets up the perfect scheme: fake a financial catastrophe where their large, beautiful home is raided by the police and swarmed by helicopters. Their credit card accounts are frozen, and their vehicles have been possessed. There’s no time to run inside of the house to grab their belongings. They must flee.

All their wealth is lost, explains Germán as he sits in the front seat of a cab to break the news to his children, who are slouched in the back. He tells them that he has embezzled money … a lot of money. They’re told they have no more money and must "go into hiding" in the run-down childhood home of Germán. Of course, the oblivious trio is lost and afraid when they’re outside of their comfort zone. As they travel through a poverty-stricken village, they stare out through the window fearful of what’s to come.

Inside of a small (or at least much smaller than what they’re used to) home that is in desperate need of a fix-up, they realize that they need to make money to survive, which means that they’ll have to (gasp) find jobs. Javi finds a job driving a bruised and battered bus through the rural streets. Bárbara ironically works as a waitress at a cantina with the help of a former lover named Lucho (Ianis Guerrero), who helps the family in any way he can despite the fact that he works three jobs himself, and Cha works as a clerk in the back office of a bank.

At first, these jobs are soul crushing, but they soon warm up to their new roles, and they get into the groove of bringing in an income that they’ve earned themselves. In the meanwhile, Germán has to deal with Peter, Bárbara’s fiancé, who is more in love with money than anything or anyone else. Peter soon finds out about the scheme and threatens to reveal the lie, which Germán wants to reveal on his own terms.

Although the set-up of its premise is fun, "We Are The Nobles" doesn’t take any risks in terms of its subject matter. For a film that hints at the very real large gap between classes in Mexico, the film itself keeps things generally predictable. There are a few amusing moments, however, that are only boosted by the likeable performances from the central cast, especially during a dinner scene where they awkwardly discuss their sexual histories while trying to get their father to reveal his. Also, it was fun to see Bárbara get a taste of her own medicine while encountering a rude customer at the cantina.

In Mexico, there are two distinct classes: the wealthy and the poor. This gap is clearly represented by the Nobles, who are obviously the upper class, and the poor, working class who are most visibly seen in the village where the Nobles hide out and work, much to their initial dismay. Director Gary Alazraki, who co-wrote the script with Adrian Zurita and Patricio Saiz, satirizes this gap by placing the Nobles out of their comfort zone and into this working-class side of Mexico that shows there is misfortunate but hardworking people who work multiple jobs to get by.

Alazraki doesn’t wince when slipping in his opinion about the upper class either. In one particular scene, Bárbara tells Lucho, "You’re aware that you’re aiding the criminals of this country?" to which Lucho responds, "The criminals are your friends." A dumbstruck Bárbara questions his comment to which he responds, "Are you concerned about the country? Don’t feed them or invite them. Don’t go on their yachts. You have your gangs and we have ours."

That brief conversation and when the Nobles first drive through the village are the only serious moments as Alazraki keeps the plot moving along with dashes of humor and lightheartedness.

It makes a lot of sense that "We Are The Nobles" is one of the highest grossing films in Mexico ever. Because of the large gap between the wealthy and the poor, a lot of people probably loved seeing the Nobles humiliated before they ever so predictably learn their lesson. Maybe this was even therapeutic for some … but I won’t make any assumptions.