Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Molly Gunn, the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny to Ray - the precocious, oft-ignored daughter of a music executive - she learns what it means to be an adult while teaching Ray how to be a child.
Uptown Girls is a moderately charming odd-couple comedy-drama elevated by the chemistry between Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning. The plot follows a fairly predictable fish-out-of-water/coming-of-age template with the dual growth arc giving it some warmth, but it's largely formulaic. Murphy is engaging and Fanning is impressively mature, making the acting serviceable to good. The cinematography is standard early-2000s studio fare with nothing visually distinctive. The film doesn't bring much novelty — the rich-girl-finds-herself premise and nanny dynamic were well-worn by 2003. The ending offers modest emotional satisfaction without any real surprise, landing it squarely in above-average territory for its modest ambitions.