UPTOWN GIRLS

"Oh, grow up"

Ray

Rich, "IT" girl Molly Gunn (Murphy) had wanted for nothing, being the daughter of a famous dead rock star but when that constant supply of money is stolen from her, she is forced to live in the real world for the first time in her life. Desperately needing money, her friend Huey (Faison) gets her a job as a nanny for his boss's daughter. The only problem is that 8 year-old Ray (Fanning) has gone through six nanny's in the last month and doesn't take kindly to having someone look after her who acts younger than she is.

Two rising young (and very young) stars combine to make a movie that is so sickly sweet that half of your teeth will have fallen out by the time you have finished watching it.

Brittany Murphy is an up and coming actress that has a lot of talent. If you watch her in "Spun" or "Don't say a Word" you will see that when given the chance she can excel and grab your attention when she is on the screen. The problem is that for her first real lead role she has chosen a light comedy, which to be fair she has done before quite successfully, when she would have been better off with a more dramatic vehicle to showcase her talents. The last thing she wants to do is become the new face of romantic comedies as this would just be a complete waste of her dramatic gifts.

Dakota Fanning is one of the best child actresses around. If you have seen her in the TV mini series "Taken" you will know this. She is the best thing in this movie, providing a performance that is far better than the film deserves. Hopefully she will go onto bigger and better things.

The support isn't too bad. Donald Faison basic just plays his role from Scrubs, Marley Shelton is fine as Molly's best friend and Heather Locklear is good as the uncaring, always busy mother. Ex-Aussie Soap star Jesse Spencer's performance as love interest Neal is dogged a very confusing accent. Is the former Neighbour supposed to be from the UK or Australia? But he does his best with a limited role and is another TV star from down under that is able to sing.

Uptown Girls is far too overly sentimental, especially at the end, to really captivate anyone but its target teenage girl audience. What we end up with is an extremely average movie that is a real disappointment because of the young, upcoming talent involved deserve a lot better.

'The Lowdown On Uptown' featurette, 'Making Of' featurette, 'Rocking Style' fashion featurette, Deleted scenes, 'Time' music video by Chantel Kreviazuk & Video stills gallery

Big Daddy

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2004