Have You Seen Uptown Girls?

By Yaskara Albarado-Claros, Staff Writer

On a random day a few years back while doom scrolling TikTok, I saw an edit of a movie where two girls were spinning on an amusement park teacup ride. After finding the name of the movie in the caption, I put it on my “To Watch” list; it’s a list where I put all the movies I say I’m going to see but never do. It was only a year later that I decided to give the movie a shot. I didn’t expect to tear up so much at that exact same scene, and it has become a movie that I’ve rewatched many times over.

Uptown Girls is a 2003 film directed by Boaz Yakin, starring the late Brittany Murphy as Molly and Dakota Fanning as Ray. It’s a comedic yet heartfelt story about two girls who are dealing with loss together at different stages of life. Molly is a girl who never grew up. Ray is a girl who tries to act like a grown-up. Molly’s parents are dead, and Ray’s parents might as well be. The movie subverts the usual expectations one would have when first seeing the poster. I came in expecting a fun movie about two rich city girls tolerating each other till they become friends, which did not disappoint, but the second half really addressed serious topics of death and depicted a meaningful picture of how much unsettled grief can stagnate one’s life.

Both girls begrudgingly meet at Molly’s 22nd birthday party, filled with a few of Molly’s friends and music artists. Ray’s mom, a wealthy, workaholic music executive, ends up bringing 8-year-old Ray to the party after not finding a nanny on time. After insulting each other, both Molly and Ray expect (and hope) to never see each other again. Too bad Molly finds out she can’t use her trust fund to afford her carefree lifestyle anymore. And so, after couch hopping and failing to find a job, she ends up working as Ray’s nanny. As Molly begins to care for Ray, both girls realize just how much they have in common and how much they wish to have someone care for them.

Starting out as brats, both girls end up warming up to and defending each other. We, as the viewer, start to witness their complicated life and the reasons behind their actions. Through one another, they learn not just how to act their age, but how to move past the grief they were never able to fully process when they were younger.

The portrayal of how they’ve dealt with their loss was best depicted by the very scene that got me interested in the movie to begin with- the teacups ride at Coney Island. The ride was the only one where a kid as young as Molly, at the time of her parent’s death, could ride by herself. When Ray ran away to the ride, it was Molly who chose to be with her as they spun, and it was Molly who comforted her when they finally left together. They find happiness in their own lives and learn to express themselves in less self-destructive ways. Ray was healing Molly’s inner child, and in turn, Molly made Ray feel like a child again.

When I had first searched up where to watch the movie on Google, I saw it labeled under Comedy/Romance. However, Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning gave such an amazing performance that I felt their deep sibling-like bond outshined the romantic sideplot Molly had with a musician. It felt more of a Comedy/Drama because those scenes were what stuck out more.

The movie is about an hour and a half long, so if you want to watch it with your friends, it’s free on YouTube. I guarantee some smiles in between or perhaps a tear by the end.