Brittany Murphy as Molly and Dakota Fanning as Ray play off each other perfectly in the delightful and heart-warming "Uptown Girls." Dakota gives us a sophisticated and jaded-beyond-her-years performance as eight-year-old Ray, the spoiled but ignored and abandoned child of a terminally ill, comatose father and a driven, workaholic, record-producing mother. Ray has developed quite an expertise of chewing up and spitting out nanny after nanny. She's tough, smart and meticulous in everything she does. Obsessed about cleanliness and searching for some semblance of control, she even carries her own soap with her to public washrooms. From her private school, to her ballet class to her elaborate, beautifully appointed tea table in her sophisticated and totally unchild-like room in a deluxe apartment on 81st and Fifth in NYC, Ray leads a pampered but unprotected and un-parented life.
She meets her soul sister in Molly, a 22-year-old who is also pampered yet unprotected; lost in a frivolous party lifestyle. In fact, we meet Molly as she awakens at 10 p.m., to head off to meet her friends in what turns out to be a surprise birthday party for her. The singer that night is a new act, and that's "what" Molly wants for her birthday. She gets him home and seduces him so well he hangs out for a couple of days when she starts stressing out that he won't leave. When he does she spirals into depression from being abandoned. When Molly's best friend comes over to boost her spirits, she discovers that there are letters marked "final notice" that have piled up, unopened in the messy apartment and that all the services, like phone and electricity, have been shut off. Ultimately, they discover she has been swindled and is now flat-out broke.
Looking for her first job, and essentially homeless, Molly has little choice but to become Ray's next nanny. The job starts out pretty rough, but since Molly was orphaned at eight, when her rock star parents were killed in a plane crash on their way to a concert, she and Ray have a lot in common and an unspoken need to parent each other.
Their relationship develops in sporadic and comedic fits and starts, but ultimately they develop a closeness that is healing for them both.
The acting, especially Dakota Fanning's performance is terrific. Brittany Murphy makes us fall in love with Molly, with her quirks and vulnerability as she trips through her life as a princess to her life as a homeless princess, hosting a yard sale on the street in front of her apartment, sadly selling the most delightful, playful items imaginable. Heather Locklear, as Ray's Mom, is convincing as a hip Mom, too busy cutting record deals to pay any attention to her little girl. The cinematography captures the full range of Molly's idyllic, fairy tale-like settings to the austere and efficient environment of Ray's fun-less existence.
I found this movie delightful, touching and needed the requisite hankie or two. I'd recommend it as a great movie for a Mom and daughter outing and appropriate for young girls.
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