“Spoiled Brats” (in French, “Pourris g­âtés”) (French; 2021; comedy; running time 1 hour, 35 minutes; directed by Nicolas Cuche, written by Cuche and Laurent Turner; rated TV-14 for language, non-graphic sex, suggestive dialogue, smoking; streaming on Netflix on Nov. 26, 2021) is a mildly funny, mildly moving film that is mildly entertaining. It’s a remake of the 2013 Mexican film “Nosotros los Nobles” (“We Are the Nobles”), one of the most financially successful films in Mexican history and a huge hit in Latin America. The French version seems too average to cause much of a stir, but it is pleasing enough to not be a waste of 95 minutes of your time on a slow movie-watching day. It comments on the divide between the privileged and working class, but not so much to bog down the proceedings. The movie provides a laughs here and there, but its strongest moments are when it’s about a dysfunctional (but wealthy) family learning valuable lessons and growing closer. It’s predictable (even if you haven’t seen the Mexican version) but pleasant enough that you won’t much mind.

Francis Bartek (Gérard Jugnot) is a widower and wildly successful businessman in Monaco with three adult children – a daughter Stella (Camille Lou), who is awful to those she considers below her and is engaged to marry a Argentine playboy (Tom Leeb as Juan Carlos) who is gold-digging; a son Alexandre (Louka Meliava), a hippie who is sleeping with the wife and daughters of the president of the college his father bought his way into and rails against the capitalism that keeps him from having to hold a job; and another son Philippe (Victor Artus Solaro, who goes by just Artus), a party animal who has wasted much of his father’s money on crazy get-richer-quick ideas but is set to inherit his father’s business. When Francis realizes his children are behaving terribly, he hatches a scheme: He will pretend that his business is bankrupt and that the authorities are seeking the family on embezzlement charges. The Barteks go to Marseille and hide out in a dilapidated house where Francis Bartek grew up. He will refurbish the house while his children get menial jobs. And the ploy works for a while. Philippe drives a bicycle taxi; Stella waits tables; and Alexandre works as a carpentry apprentice to his father. The expected complication arrives when Juan Carlos figures out what is going on, blackmails Francis and tries to rush Stella into marriage. All will end well, of course, as Francis teaches his children the importance of work ethic while also learning a thing or two about how he needs to be more than just his family’s money source.

Lou, Meliava, Artus and Leeb are all in as their characters, awful people in their own way. They don’t get many big laughs (though Artus and Leeb especially have their moments) but prove capable of guiding their characters through the transition from despicable to sympathetic and likable. Jugnot is the anchor, though, in a far more subtle, warm performance. His Francis might have risked alienating his children forever with a remarkably complicated ruse, but he did so with the best of intentions and got results. Jugnot is good for some laughs, too. Though perhaps not that important in a comedy, the scenery is beautiful, and even the dusty old house in Marseille has a certain charm. Director/co-writer Cuche tries to build dramatic tension when Francis’ scheme unravels and when Juan Carlos and Stella go to a courthouse for a quickie wedding, but the resolution is exactly what you would expect. Though “Spoiled Brats” isn’t much special, it at least earns its happy if predictable and even schmaltzy ending.

My score: 59 out of 100.