Uptown Girls

Plot synopsis:
Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy) is a carefree and fun-spirited girl, living off the ample trust fund of her late rock legend father, Tommy Gunn. Molly falls for singer Neal Fox (Jesse Spencer) when he plays at her birthday party thrown by her best friends, Huey (Donald Faison) and Ingrid (Marley Shelton). They have a night of passion but he leaves in the morning, saying that he can't stay in Molly's carefree life. Adding to Molly's misfortune, she finds out that her father's accountant embezzled her money, so she is left penniless and homeless. She moves in with her best friend, Ingrid who tells her that in order to stay with her, she must find a job.
Molly begins work as a nanny of an eight-year-old hypochondriac and neat freak named Laraine "Ray" Schleine (Dakota Fanning) who is the daughter of Roma Schleine (Heather Locklear), a music executive who is too busy to notice Ray. Ray's father is in a coma and is being treated at home by a private nurse which causes Ray to stifle her emotions to maintain order. Although she enjoys ballet, she refuses to freestyle and often quotes Mikhail Baryshnikov: "Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun." Molly attempts to show her how to have fun, which at first causes much conflict between them, but eventually Ray opens up to let Molly in.
Molly continues to pursue Neal and holds onto his lucky jacket in hopes of seeing him again. After a baking accident, Molly causes a fire that damages Neal's jacket. She redesigns it to fix the damage but Neal breaks up with Molly when he sees it, claiming he has to pursue his music career and does not have time for her flightiness. Soon after, he gets a record deal with Roma and has a hit music video with a song that Molly inspired him to write, all while wearing the jacket Molly made. Disgusted, Molly agrees to Ingrid's suggestions to sell off her possessions so she can prove that she is growing up. However, after a fight, Ingrid kicks Molly out to live with Huey.
The budding friendship between Molly and Ray continues to develop when Molly takes Ray to Coney Island and explains that when her parents died, she ran away to Coney Island and rode the tea cups. She encourages Ray to talk to her comatose father, and promises that it will help him improve. However, Ray's father dies the next day, and Ray tells Roma to fire Molly. In Roma's office, Molly calls Roma out for never paying attention to her daughter. As she leaves, Molly bumps into Neal, who begs to get back together as she was his whole inspiration. Molly turns him down and coldly tells him that he is selfish and only cares about her when she can give him something. Ray runs away from home and Roma begs Molly to find her. Molly finds Ray at Coney Island, riding in the tea cups. At first, Ray tries to be angry with Molly for raising her hopes but then she collapses into Molly's arms, crying, finally coming to terms with her grief.
Molly, deciding to take charge of her own life, takes Ray's advice to auction off her late father's guitar collection to an unknown buyer; this enables her to afford her own place. At the wake for Ray's father, Molly meets other musicians who ask her to design their clothes after seeing Neal's jacket in his video. She and Ingrid also make up and Molly finds Ray to apologize as well. She promises to stay friends with Ray and enrolls in design school after realizing her talent for fashion.
Molly arrives at Ray's recital late and is pleased to see Ray is wearing the tutu Molly designed for her earlier. She is surprised when Ray dances freestyle to Neal singing "Molly Smiles", a song written for her by her father when she was a child. He plays using Tommy Gunn's acoustic guitar, while the remaining ballerinas dance with the other guitars from her father's collection, revealing that he was the anonymous buyer. In a voice over, Ray says that the end was a new beginning for all of them.

Tags: cute, flashback

Review:
As other reviewers have suggested, "Uptown Girls" is a hard film to classify: it's not a "comedy," per se, because it isn't funny (and barely even seems to try), but it also isn't particularly dramatic (though there are dramatic elements).
Despite my better judgement, Brittany Murphy does a good job at playing the "confused" grown-up, while Dakota is a charming, if not absolutely fantastic grown-up "in the making".
I think this movie is worth watching, at least, if not exclusively, for the terrific relationship between Ray and Molly.
Also, it stars Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning, two wonderful actresses that dazzle the screen with their very presence.
I guess we can forgive her for this past winter's `Just Married,' as her track record generally shows her showing off real talent in films like `8 Mile,' and `Girl, Interrupted.' Her portrayal of Molly makes the audience feel sadness for her character, but at the same time, we can't help but feel that she is incredibly pathetic, and not in the comic sense.
I, on the other hand, watched this movie for the first time expecting the worst and most guilty kind of entertainment, and was more than pleasantly surprised by the dark tones and impeccable performances.
Murphy and Fanning are a refreshing duo in a buddy film and like many female buddy films, Uptown Girls is unfairly abused and underrated.
Murphy should be commended for choosing roles like Molly and her character in Little Black Book, because in a sea of fantasy and escapism there is an aspect of actual female representation written by women and made for women.
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.
On her birthday party in a nightclub, she meets Lorraine "Ray" Schleine (Dakota Fanning), a nasty young girl with attitudes of adult , living with her careless mother and a terminal father in a fancy uptown apartment.
She is hired to be Ray's babysitter, and their close contact makes Molly reach the maturity and Ray act like as a child of her age."Uptown Girls" has just a reasonable and predictable screenplay, being corny and boring sometimes, but supported by two of my favorite actresses: Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning.
There are a few worthwhile moments along the story, the script has many flaws and this movie is only recommended to fans like me of these two great actresses.
Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy) is the rich, immature, hard-partying daughter of a deceased rock star, but when she loses all her money and belongings, she has to take a job as the nanny to a rich little girl named Ray (Dakota Fanning).
So the story is very predictable, the dialogue often weak, and I hated the character of Molly's on-again, off-again "rock star" boyfriend (who inexplicably makes it big with a horrifyingly bad song about Egyptian cotton), but the characters played by Murphy and Fanning are a pleasure to spend time with, and that's what sold it to me..
This film is about an uptight child who wants to play everything by the rules, and her interaction with her young caretaker who is playfully childish.Dakota Fanning is an amazing child actress.
Brittany Murphy is an irresponsible girl who suddenly has to face up to reality when she's evicted from her home, has to get a job babysitting a pampered rich girl (Dakota Fanning) who also has to face up to reality, and by the end Murphy becomes a responsible, mature person and Fanning loosens up and acts more like her age.
There are in fact a lot of spoiled girls like Fanning's character, who get whatever they want simply because the mothers or fathers don't want to deal with them.
I always hated watching that moment in all the previews where she'd say "News-fe-lash!"  All in all, "Uptown Girls" is a fluffy, superficial feel-good comedy that doesn't fail to entertain, and I will recommend it for a rental.
Despite how much I like Brittany Murphy, I just can't recommend this film but it its better then Just Married.
In the end, this is another chick flick that's only worth watching if you are a die-hard fan of Dakota or Brittany.
But when her manager runs away and nobody is able to pay her bills, Molly is forced to get a job which turns out to be a babysitter to the very mature and jaded Ray(Dakota Fanning).
Brittany Murphy is a also a great actress but I think she should stop making sugary sweet comedies, they aren't really her thing.
I'm not really into Britney Murphy or Dakota Fanning, but this film is actually worth a watch.
i was mesmerized by the strong performances by Dakota Fanning and Brittany Murphy.the close up of "Ray's" hand when she hugs "Molly" is one of the finer touches that Director Boaz Yakin brings to the film.i don't know why people categorize films by genre.
None of his subsequent projects have had the power of that movie but I'm an unbelievably loyal Leo, and I will keep seeing anything the man writes and/or directs.This one, Uptown Girls, is directed by Yakin, and it does display his knack for getting decent interaction from his performers; there are some extremely believable scenes between Murphy and Fanning, in particular, who both manage, under his direction and thanks to their innate talent (especially the soon-to-be-legendary Fanning's), to breathe genuine life into their potentially one-dimensional characters.I hadn't read anything about the movie beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it play out not as a farce but rather as a skewed and quirky buddy movie, with both characters learning from each other what it means to be human, at any age.
I was a little worried they might have given Murphy brain damage before the scene, and that's why she was acting like a bit of a partard.Long story short, this movie is utter crud, and really, you should be buying me awesome presents for letting you know and saving you the torture of sitting through it.Oh yeah, and don't even get me STARTED on that damn song that Jesse Spencer sings....
beautiful.this important quote in the beginning-middle of the movie ends up more important than you would think::Ray: Every grown-up is good at something.
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 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.
Although I enjoyed watching two very talented young actresses (Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning) perform with what would be only a half decent script with any other actresses.
Murphy and Fanning really lend credibility to the roles, and a viewer may hardly realize these are just characters in a movie, not people in real life.
I've always maintained that real life is far less exciting than movies, and it's difficult to portray realistic (in a way) characters.Time passed, and I viewed Uptown Girls again.
My point being, Uptown Girls is still an enjoyable movie, with two very talented actresses in the main roles.I'll watch Uptown Girls many times in the future, it grew on me..
This is not a movie i usually would have seen, but after seeing Dakota Fanning in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Taken, i decided to see her in Uptown Girls.
Brittany Murphy was pretty good in it, but Dakota Fanning was the best.
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.
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 soon gets a job has a nanny for Ray(Dakota Fanning)an 8 year old girl, who tries to grow up to fast.
I love Dakota Fanning and she was the reason I went to see the movie and I was not disappointed.
This is actually a nine or eight star film if you are open to it.The critics have lost their capacity to enjoy films, much like the Fanning character in the movie.
Murphy is very good, and as one IMDb user has written, "adults probably wrote it off as a 'kids movie' and the kids didn't understand the emotional plot line"....interesting explanation as to why the film did only 37 million domestically.Who is the audience for this film?
The film for me is very realistic and practical, it's funny but what made me like the movie is that i cried almost 10 times while watching this film.I hope that someday i could meet Brittany and Dakotta so that i could congratulate them and also to congratulate the director cause he managed to make a film of great portrayal!
Brittany Murphy comes out of this with no credit whatsover, and Dakota Fanning is capable of so much better, as shown by her excellent performances in I Am Sam and Taken.The story is contrived and shamelessly manipulative.
Dakota's character may as well be one, with her father a 'vegetable' and her mother a high-powered business woman with no time for her child.You can guess the rest.Everything about this film screamed comedy.
Brittany Witherspoon's, er Reese Murphy's new film, Uptown Girls fits this standard story but with one important distinction: her character is so horrible that the film is unwatchable.
In my opinion, UPTOWN GIRLS is an excellent, hilarious, and witty film that will make you feel good.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this excellent, hilarious, and witty film that will make you feel good to all you Brittany Murphy fans who have not seen it.
Even as I look through the titles like Sin City, Little Black Book, and Girl, Interrupted, I cannot help but think that perhaps it wasn't her roles in these films that caught my attention, but instead the story, style, and power of the other, stronger, characters.
Thankfully, we are not forced to drag our feet through the film with only the likes of Murphy to carry us, thankfully, we have a young, and highly inspirational Dakota Fanning, to add some levity to the project.Uptown Girls is not a good film in any way shape or form.
Usually, Brittany Murphy gives a strong performance, but in Uptown Girls, she was nothing but obnoxious (throughout the film it seemed like she was trying really hard to be sweet and pretty, but failing miserably at it).
Dakota Fanning is just so sweet, going to be a really cool actress!Fun movie not deep, but good message, and a dreamy senario, Glamor, money, love and sad sad little girls!
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).
I saw this movie because I was quite bored and because I liked Dakota Fanning.
However, Dakota Fanning was wonderful, she was about eight years old when she did this movie and she performed perfectly.
Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning are a dynamo team in this film about growing up.
It has so much content that can be accepted as REAL LIFE, situations.We both like Dakota Fanning have seen her in a few movies including one with Denzil Washington when he plays her "Nanny" in Mexico.
Second of all, Britney Murphy and Dakota Fanning were fantastic.I liked the story because while it was funny at times, it was also very moving.
If you want to see a really good movie, go see Uptown Girls!.
"Uptown Girls" has the very same plot-- girlish young woman (Murphy) and grown-up child (Fanning) teach each other on love and life, right down to the tear-jerking British guitar solo.
The relationship she develops with the child is far more convincing and identifiable than the one she builds with Neal.Therefore, the film luckily focuses on the relationship between Molly and Lorraine ("Ray"), a precocious 8-year-old played wonderfully by Dakota Fanning.
She's taken on so many challenging personas and broken type for the Hollywood movie star so many times, you must believe she just loves the acting craft and the opportunity to explore characters to her fullest potential."Uptown Girls" might not have worked in less capable hands, but Ms. Murphy exudes such energy and emotion, you can't take your eyes off of her.
Brittany Murphy tries way too hard to act ditzy in the first half of "Uptown Girls." Her pet pig is far more endearing than she is.
UPTOWN GIRLS(2003)Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning.
Time will tell you will Dakota Fanning become a famous ,and ,or good,well know actress,but i think Brittany Murphy plays well she's role,but do not show more than earlier.Script:weak,some life smell ,but sunshine situation.
She really played the role of the grown up acting girl Ray. Her opposite, Brittany Murphy played a very cool role, Molly.
But I had heard from numerous people that it was a good movie, and I love Dakota Fanning, so when I saw "Uptown Girls" for sale, I decided to buy it.At first, I was kind of bored with this movie, because it really doesn't get interesting until Molly (Brittany Murphy) gets the job as a nanny for eight year old Laraine, (Ray.) (Dakota Fanning.) This is the first movie I have seen where Dakota plays a rich, snobby, stuck-up character, but even so, I think she did a great job.
It was funny when she was beating up that girl for calling Molly a slut-bag whore =) I have never heard her talk like that before...(or put up her middle finger) she is usually so polite and friendly...even in real life.I thought Brittany Murphy did an awesome job in this movie too.
After she loses all her money she is forced to get a job as a nanny to a little rich girl named Ray, who is only 8, but acts like a 35 year old.
So Molly refuses to give up on Ray, and by the end of the movie, the two are the best of friends.Well I guess all in all "Uptown Girls" is a pretty good movie.
"Uptown Girls" starring Brittany Murphy & Dakota Fanning.
This movie is about a woman named Molly(Brittany Murphy) who still thinks she's a child and is to lazy to do anything and lost all her money so she has to move out of her house and sell all her stuff and find a job.
Film historians will look back on "Uptown Girls" as the feature where Brittany Murphy (Molly Gunn) really began to define the perceptive airhead persona she first developed in "Drop Dead Gorgeous".
She and Dakota Fanning (Ray) play off each other very well.Music is central to the story since Molly's father was a rock legend who died in a plane crash when she was a young girl and Ray's mom runs a record label.
This sets up a somewhat predictable but otherwise perfect ending as you finally get to get to hear "Molly Smiles" at Ray's dance recital; the film is worth watching just for this scene (as good an ending as "School of Rock's").
If you can suspend belief and just accept the contrived basic story, then it won't be hard to really enjoy Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning as two broken kids who help each other learn how to live, 25 years after "Times Square"..
Brittany Murphy has always been a firm favourite of mine since she acted Alicia Silverstone off the screen in Clueless so, I was looking forward to seeing Uptown Girls even though it had received less-than-stellar reviews.Murphy delivers the goods; showing that she has great comic timing and paired with the (surprisingly) brilliant Dakota Fanning, the 'reluctant buddy' chemistry is apparent.
Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning are great together..
Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning are great together..
She ends up being a nanny for Ray (Fanning), a clean freak little girl, whose mother owns the bar that Molly had her birthday in.
This is a wonderful film, full of fun and even wisdom, and the chemistry between its two stars -- Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning -- is saucy, sweet and endearing.
The acting in this movie was not very good especially that little girl ray.I think brittanys character at the start was horrible, not on her part but on the movies part.
Dakota Fanning is an excellent actress , her and Brittany Murphy have great chemistry..
Dakota Fanning and Brittany Murphy did an excellent job, one acting like a kid and the other, the grownup.
I am a fan of Brittany Murphy so i enjoyed this movie a lot.
This movie shows off Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning's talent at its best.
Brittany Murphy became a caring role model as Dakota Fanning became more of a kid.It's a nice enough story that gives you a little, warm feeling inside, but it takes too long to get to that point.
Somewhere along the way the lead character Molly played by Brittany Murphy is forced to be responsible.