By: debbie lynn elias
Molly Gunn is a pop princess by birth with all of the rights and privileges that come with having a legendary rock musician for a father. A reckless spender with a fun-filled, free-wheeling, reckless lifestyle (reminiscent of the 1980’s “Maid to Order” with Ally Sheedy), on the eve of her 22nd birthday, Molly’s money tree comes to a screeching halt after her parents are killed in a plane crash and her father’s trusted financial advisor makes off with her trust fund leaving any remaining assets frozen by the Feds. Ouch! Never having worked a day in her life (or even broken a nail doing her own dishes), Molly is now forced to join the work force, and given the economy, her aspirations and lack of skills, this is not an easy task.
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Enter 8 year old Ray Schleine, a precocious, hypochondriacal, well-to-do, 8 year old, wise beyond her years (think a 40 year old midget in the body of an 8 year old) but deprived of the joys of childhood. Suffering from a bad case of parental neglect thanks to her high-powered, overly busy music executive mother, Ray has basically learned how to be the adult in the family having had to care for herself for several years. Despite Ray’s maturity and self-reliance, mom still thinks Ray needs some “baby-sitting” and so, she hires Molly – an 22 year old in the body of an 8 year old – to be Ray’s nanny. Both essentially loners; both mistrusting of others and both at odds with each other, the story takes off from here as Ray learns to be a child, Molly learns to be an adult with a heart that retains childlike innocence and they both learn what it’s like to love and trust.
Writers Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik and Lisa Davidowitz take co-producer Allison Jacobs’ story and do an “okay” job with the concocted premise but fall short in many areas, losing out on golden opportunities to expand on what is clearly a film about the interaction and growth of two personalities. They have several set-ups that are never followed through, leaving the audience to sit and go “huh?”, not to mention giving little snippets into various aspects of the main characters, particularly Molly, but then dropping the ball. The team does, however, maintain a fantasy-like, but not predictable, premise when writing the relationship between Molly and Ray and that’s a good thing, making you believe that these two lost souls, with similar backgrounds and lack of parental guidance and concern, despite their fourteen year age difference, could be best friends.
Superfluous characters distract from the story – and in one case due to mis-casting. Molly’s romance with her wanna-be boyfriend Neal has no chemistry and lacks believability, looking more like an ink plot on a page, a distraction rather than enhancement. Likewise, Molly’s best friend Ingrid is so irritatingly written that you can see why Molly is bonding with an 8 year old. And Ray’s mother, another wasted plot line that could have been developed so much better.
The real joy here is in the work of Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning. Murphy, who gave a riveting performance in “Don’t Say A Word” and who I was less than thrilled with in “Just Married”, shows some real talent here as Molly. Deliciously colorful, Murphy exhibits an effortless and mischievousness naivety with a comic twist. Dakota Fanning is indescribable as Ray. Referred to by some as one of the most, if not the most, adult child actor captured on film, I must agree. Here, as the character’s bravado exterior is cracked, we see Dakota’s delicately layered performance as she exposes the young lost, and even frightened, child that was hidden inside. Wasted on an under-developed role is Heather Locklear as Ray’s mother Roma. Talented and still flawlessly beautiful, it’s hard to believe she’s taking on roles of mothers. Still, it would have been nice to see her be able to run with the part. Locklear has an incredible sense of comic timing and the ability to bring dimension to any character she plays given the chance. Here, the writers failed to give her that
chance. What a loss.
Director Boaz Yakin, who did such an excellent job with “Remember the Titans” and 1994’s “Fresh”, must have been absent a lot when shooting “Uptown Girls.” Although Murphy and Fanning click, the rest of the movie doesn’t click with them and actually gets in the way of this delightful pairing. Extremely rough around the edges with some obvious bad editing choices in the final cut that detract from the main storyline, Yakin could have taken what is an overall average cute film and made it a good film. He didn’t. Despite its flaws, “Uptown Girls” is a cute film with some charming moments and emotional complexity thanks to two standout lead performances by Murphy and Fanning that shouldn’t be missed.
Molly Gunn: Brittany Murphy
Ray Schleine: Dakota Fanning
Roma Schleine: Heather Locklear
Ingrid: Marley Shelton
Neal: Jesse Spencer
MGM Pictures presents a film directed by Boaz Yakin. Written by Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik, Lisa Davidowitz and Allison Jacobs. Rated PG-13 (for sexual content and language). Running time: 93 minutes.
