Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Uptown Girls’ is about a 22-year-old broke nepo baby and an eight-year-old learning how to act their age from each other. And honestly, I don’t really remember what year I saw the film in, because it was on tv, so probably one or two years after its theatrical release in 2003. I do remember it being entertaining enough, and largely due to Dakota Fanning’s sassy portrayal of Ray, just eight years of age, but with the behavior of a fierce aging neurotic CEO on multiple medication.
Brittany Murphy plays Molly, a playful, carefree daughter of a deceased rock star, living off her inheritance and perhaps royalties. ‘Uptown Girls’ opens with Molly oversleeping in her flat, which is chaos central, overflowing with clothes, takeout boxes, junk, and amid it all is her pet pig. She heads to a party for her 22nd birthday, but not before receiving complaints from a neighbor about the hall full of bouquets and gifts. All these admirers of course disappear when she finds out the dud managing her finances just disappeared with all her money, leaving her broke, and also homeless.
Molly’s best friend Ingrid, a preppy young woman, offers her a place to stay but expects her to pay half the rent. With no income, Molly takes up a babysitting job, looking after Ray, the uptight daughter of her friend Huey’s (Donald Faison) boss. Ray is everything Molly isn’t: disciplined, organized, neat, and completely allergic to fun.
“Freestyle is for moronic little kids and hippie freaks,” Ray snaps when Molly encourages her to loosen up. In every scene, Dakota Fanning steals the show as a child forced to grow up too soon, while Molly is an adult stuck in childhood, having lost her parents before she ever got the chance to mature. But as the two spend more time with each other, Ray learns to loosen up and be a kid, while Molly grows more responsible. Well, just a little more than before at least.
A quite contrived but mildly comedic sub-plot of ‘Uptown Girls’ also follows Molly’s hot-and-cold romance with Neal (Jesse Spencer), a handsome upcoming musician. Brittany Murphy and Jesse don’t have a lot of chemistry and it’s more fun to watch her character spend time either clashing or bonding with Ray. It doesn’t help that the creators opt for a very cliched ending between Neal and Molly.
Anyway…. watching ‘Uptown Girls’ again after all these years was a lot of fun, and most of the credit goes to the adorable Dakota Fanning, for effortlessly starting out as a killjoy child with little emotions, and slowly transforming into a regular kid who is vulnerable, sweet, and looks forward to things like going to the amusement park.
Maybe a few years later, I’d re-watch ‘Uptown Girls’ again, just for Dakota Fanning.
Watch Uptown Girls on Prime Video.
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