Grande Menina, Pequena Mulher

Boaz Yakin's "Uptown Girls" doesn't have anything new to say, but it offers us the perfect excuse to spend a mindless hour and a half in the company of Dakota Fanning, one of the best child actresses to come out of Hollywood in quite a while. If the viewer is looking for a light comedy, this film will do the trick.

Molly Gunn, a spoiled young woman, finds out in the worst way she has been rendered destitute because of the man in charge of her trust fund has swindled it and ran away with all her money. She must face reality, so she takes the easy way out in trying for the job of being the little girl Ray's nanny. She is in for a rude awakening!

Molly finds out that Ray is a grown woman trapped in a little girl's body. Ray is wise beyond belief. She makes Molly's life a living hell until Molly realizes that the little girl is to be pitied because she hasn't known any happiness in her short little life.

The combination of Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning is what makes this film work. Both are fun to watch together. Both actresses show they have a strange chemistry that works on the screen. The supporting cast does its part, but of course, we can't take our eyes from Dakota Fanning.

Just rewatched this classic. Brittany Murphy was so pretty. I miss her so much.

The plot to "Uptown Girls" is that it centers on Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy), who is the spoiled, 22-year old daughter of a deceased rock legend. When the manager steals her money, she's left broke and for the first time in her life, has to actually work. So she gets a job being a nanny to Ray (Dakota Fanning), the neglected daughter of an overworked music executive. She doesn't really have much of a choice, since she has no "real" working skills or experience being employed. The two bond and become best friends and so on.

True this film's plot slightly resembles Adam Sandler's 1999 comedy "Big Daddy," another film where an irresponsible adult is given the daunting task of playing parent to a neglected child. Where the more serious moments of the story to "Big Daddy" took a back seat to silly toilet humor, "Uptown Girls" is able to soar high above the required material and become something truly unique. "Big Daddy" was great, too and got its message (if you can call it that) across without much trouble, and "Uptown Girls" does the same, and then something greater.

Part of the fun of watching "Uptown Girls" is simply Murphy's presence on screen. Watching this, I had to sometimes remember why she is one of today's youngest and most talented actresses. Another reason would be her relationship with Dakota Fanning in the movie. The two naturally start off not liking each other but as the film continues, they grow closer and closer together.

I'm a guy and I don't normally like these kinds of movies (girlie-girl films), but "Uptown Girls" seems to be an exception, largely because of star Brittany Murphy. She just has a kind of appeal that draws you in, whether you want to or not. I guess that's why when I first saw a poster for this film at the movie theater a few months ago, I was drawn in to it, despite any misgivings I already had.

Murphy has a magnetic charm, a kind of screen presence that's normally lacking with a lot of young actresses working in today's Hollywood. Roger Ebert stated in his review of the film that Murphy displays a kind of ineptitude that's reminiscent of the late Lucille Ball and plays it perfectly. In this film, she is kind of a ditz, but it's all part of her emotional complexity.

Another reason I wanted to see "Uptown Girls" is because Boaz Yakin, who helmed 1994's "Fresh" and 2000's "Remember the Titans," is behind the camera. He has a real eye for the characters in his films, in that he makes them do a lot more than what is expected of them. This is why his two earlier films were so successful in that they went above and beyond the material to become something really special.

I already know that a lot of people are not going to like this movie, but I think that we should at least give it a chance. It's not going to do well at the box office, but I think bad scheduling (the much-anticipated "Freddy vs. Jason" reigned supreme at the box office when "Girls" was released) may have had a serious effect on its overall performance.

RELEASED IN 2003 and directed by Boaz Yakin, "Uptown Girls" is a dramedy with a little romance about Molly (Brittany Murphy), a fun-loving 22 year-old who suddenly loses her inherited riches and is forced to become a nanny to a stoical neat-freak girl, Ray (Dakota Fanning). Heather Locklear plays Ray's distant mother who's an exec in the music biz while Jesse Spencer plays a hunky musician who gets signed. Marley Shelton and Donald Faison are on hand as friends of Molly.

The first act didn't do much for me, but at the halfway point something made me bust out laughing and I busted out four more times before it was over. More importantly, the movie is rich with quality mind/spirit food. Both Molly and Ray are broken people who handle their grief in opposite ways. And each has what the other needs to heal and escape their disorder.

"Uptown Girls" boldly reveals that "meds" (drugs) cannot heal or deliver a person; the best they can do is help a person cope. In fact, they usually have negative side-effects, mentally and physically. Sadly, six years after the release of the film Murphy ironically died of cardiac arrest due to inadvertent overdoses of a mixture of over-the-counter & prescription drugs taken (they presume) for a respiratory infection. She was only 32.

The flick encourages growing up and achieving true success through (1.) recognizing "golden connections" and taking advantage of them (after all, no one makes it alone, no one; they had help); and (2.) discerning and cultivating one's special talent(s). I'd say more, but it's better to see the movie, enjoy it, and quarry the gems for oneself.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 32 minutes and was shot in New York City (Manhattan & Brooklyn with studio work done in Queens). WRITERS: Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik & Lisa Davidowitz wrote the script based on Allison Jacobs' story.

GRADE: B+

Rich girl loses all her money and has to be a nanny for an uptight brat; it certainly sounds like a bad movie in the making. But actually I quite enjoyed this one. The stars are appealing, a lot of the scenes are quite funny and even though the movie is predictable and maudlin it does have scenes with a genuine emotional impact. With a script that has some intelligence and nuance and actresses who bring sincerity and belief to rather clichéd characters (child-woman and woman-child, essentially), this movie winds up being far better than it has a right to be. I feel like I have to make excuses for liking it, because it is kind of dumb, but I really very much enjoyed it.