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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.
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