Uptown Girls

Uptown Girls is a flimsy summer flick about Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy), the orphaned daughter of a rock star whose party lifestyle comes to an abrupt end when her financial manager runs off with her trust fund. Forced from her life of leisure to find an actual job, Molly ends up becoming a nanny to Ray (Dakota Fanning), the precocious, hypochondriac daughter of an inattentive record executive mother (Heather Locklear) and a father who is languishing in a coma. Inevitably, Molly teaches Ray how to enjoy being a kid and Ray teaches Molly what grown up responsibility is all about and together they learn how to love and trust and blah, blah, blah. There's also a really underdeveloped side-plot thrown into the mix involving a fledging romance between Molly and an up-and-coming singer/songwriter (Jesse Spencer). The movie is not only cheesy and predictable but sloppily put together to boot. It contains an uneasy combination of slapstick humour and unbearable earnestness, some truly terrible dialogue and non-existent character development. The acting is pretty shallow across the board, with the exception of young Dakota Fanning (the girl from I am Sam), who acts circles around everyone else. (MGM)