Uptown Girls

The last thing I wrote in my notes for Uptown Girls was "could have been worse," so some part of me was somewhat charmed by this silly, weightless, yet self-serious modern fairytale about a dead rock star's impetuously carefree daughter who is forced to confront the real world when her accountant absconds with her inheritance. But the contrived story gets by only on the middling magnetism of its stars: Brittany Murphy as the flighty, distaff Peter-Pan-syndrome heroine and nine-year-old Dakota Fanning as an uptight little rich girl who slowly loosens up when Murphy takes a job as her nanny. As they learn neatly packaged life lessons from each other and grow into more well-rounded people, the laughs are often predicated on either Murphy's pratfalls (clumsiness is Hollywood's idea of making beautiful actresses seem "common") or the cuteness quotient of a pretty blonde child wearing Chanel, listening to Mozart, acting snooty, and speaking in multi-syllabic words she can hardly wrap her mouth around--all set to a relentlessly twinkly score sprinkled with breathy girlie-pop songs. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include the behind-the-scenes featurette “The Lowdown on Uptown” (13 min.) with a brief intro by costar Brittany Murphy, an eight-minute “Rockin' Style” featurette on costumes, 13 deleted scenes (18 min.), a video stills gallery segment, the music video “Time” by Chantal Kreviazuk, a soundtrack spot, and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a so-so film.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—May 3, 2016—Olive, 92 min., R, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2003's Uptown Girls features a nice transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include deleted scenes (14 min.), the behind-the-scenes featurettes “The Lowdown on Uptown” (13 min.) and “Rockin' Style” (8 min.), the music video “Time” by Chantal Kreviazuk, and trailers. Bottom line: a so-so early Dakota Fanning film makes its Blu-ray debut with a decent extras package.]