Released: August 15, 2003
Directed by: Boaz Yakin
Written by: Julia Dahl, Lisa Davidowitz & Mo Ogrodnik based on a story by Allison Jacobs
Starring: Brittany Murphy & Dakota Fanning
Plot: When a free-spirited twenty-something who has everything loses it all, she goes to work as a nanny for high-strung 8 year old.
IMDb: 6.0/10Rotten Tomatoes: 14/100
My Score: 2.5/5
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Uptown Girls is an unfunny but sometimes touching comedy/drama from director Boaz Yakin. Brittany Murphy is the 22 year old daughter of a dead famous rock star who sadly has her entire fortune stolen from her be a corrupt business manager. This causes her to enter the work force and she gets a job as a nanny for germophobic, anal-retentive Dakota Fanning. Its an Odd Couple scenario with Murphy acting like the child and Fanning like the adult. The first half of the movie exploring this dynamic really falls flat and the characters just come off as obnoxious. Fanning enjoys giving the bird to people and Murphy manages to mangle almost every piece of responsibility she's given. It's not until the second, more dramatic portion, that the movie really comes together and starts hitting the right notes. Murphy starts to grow up, Fanning to loosen up and the two bond over the shared experience of losing their fathers at young ages (Murphy's parents died in a plane crash when she was around Fanning's age and Fanning's father is in a vegetative state on life support). Thrown into the mix are a number of extremely two dimensional, cliched characters that include Marley Shelton as Murphy's uptight best friend who has nothing in common with her, Donald Faison as her hard partying other best friend and Heather Locklear as Fanning's professionally driven but emotionally distant mother. Co-starring Jesse Spencer and Austin Pendleton, it also features cameos by actors Fisher Stevens and Carmen Electra, musicians Mark McGrath, Dave Navarro, Nas, and Duncan Shiek and choreographer Brian Friedman. Fanning was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film by Leading Young Actress.
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