Uptown Girls (2003)

Director:

Boaz Yakin

Writers:

Allison Jacobs (story)
Julia Dahl (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 August 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

They're about to teach each other how to act their age.

Plot:

A grown-up woman, who kept her childish instincts and behavior, start working as a nanny of a 8-year-old girl, who actually acts like an adult. But in the end everything turns to its right places

Plot Keywords:

Nanny | Nightclub | Inheritance | New York City | Young Woman

Cast

Brittany Murphy	...	Molly Gunn
Dakota Fanning	...	Lorraine "Ray" Schleine
Marley Shelton	...	Ingrid
Donald Faison	...	Huey
Jesse Spencer	...	Neal
Austin Pendleton	...	Mr. McConkey
Heather Locklear	...	Roma Schleine
Will Toale	...	Briefs Model
Marceline Hugot	...	Nurse
Pell James	...	Julie
Quddus	...	Party Guy (as Benjamin Quddus Philippe)
Russell Steinberg	...	Party Guy
Fisher Stevens	...	Funeral Guest
Susanna Frazer	...	Ballet Teacher
Wynter Kullman	...	Holly

Also Known As:

Molly Gunn (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Germany:o.Al. | Iceland:L | Finland:K-3 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Canada:PG | Netherlands:AL | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Sweden:Btl | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39314)

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The denim dress Molly wears when picking Ray up from school for the first time is a vintage dress from the seventies that belonged to the costumer designer's sister Kate when she was twelve that had been hand-customized by a babysitter. The name "Kate" was bedazzled on the back of the dress, but Brittany Murphy opted to wear a backpack to cover it up rather than ruin the history of the dress by removing the name. The name can still be seen briefly a few scenes later.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Though Molly's electricity has been turned off, she has no difficulty watching cartoons on TV the next morning and her answerphone is working. One of the deleted scenes included on the DVD shows Molly runs an extension cord through her apartment from another and plugs in the TV. While this is not part of the movie that we see, it is a perfectly valid explanation of what we do see.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ray: [narration] Some fairy tales are true, most of there stories we make up to help us deal with real life; it all depends on your point of view, but here are the facts... there was once a princess, who lived in a castle, high above the streets of an enchanted kingdom. The king and queen were long gone but they left her with a treasure, that she would stay a princess forever. On the eve of her 22nd birthday a great celebration was planned...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Office: Safety Training (#3.19)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Swan Lake Ballet

Very cute

As other reviewers have suggested, "Uptown Girls" is a hard film to classify: it's not a "comedy," per se, because it isn't funny (and barely even seems to try), but it also isn't particularly dramatic (though there are dramatic elements). I'm reminded of a term I've heard critics use a number of times -- "charmer" -- but only now do I realize how necessary it is to their lexicon. This film's greatest ambition, it seems, is to make its audience smile - and, as far as that goes, it succeeds. I may not have laughed at all for the whole ninety minutes (though I probably did), and I wasn't very moved; but, oh boy, did I smile a lot. Very few movies accomplish even that, so I'm forced to give "Uptown Girls" a strong recommendation.