Uptown Girls

Uptown Girls is a 2003 American comedy drama film directed by Boaz Yakin and starring Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning, Heather Locklear, Marley Shelton, Donald Faison, and Jesse Spencer. Adapted by screenwriters Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik and Lisa Davidowitz from a story by Allison Jacobs, it focuses on the naive daughter of a famous rock musician who, after learning her inheritance has been embezzled, finds herself employed as a nanny for a precocious hypochondriac girl in Manhattan. The film would become one of Murphy’s most iconic roles. Plot Molly Gunn is a generous, free-spirited young woman who lives off the ample trust fund of her late rock star father, Tommy Gunn, who died in a plane crash along with Molly's mother when Molly was a child. Molly falls for singer Neal Fox when he plays at her birthday party, thrown by her best friends Huey and Ingrid. Molly and Neal spend several days and nights of passion sequestered in her apartment, until Neal leaves abruptly and says that he cannot be a part of her disordered life. Adding to her misfortune, she discovers that her father's accountant has embezzled her money, leaving her penniless and homeless. She moves in with Ingrid, on the condition that Molly finds a job. She begins working as a nanny for eight-year-old Lorraine "Ray" Schleine, who exhibits obsessive hypochondriac behaviors. Ray's mother, Roma, a wealthy music executive, is completely uninvolved in her daughter's life. Ray's father is in a coma induced by a stroke, and is being treated at home by a private nurse, which causes Ray to repress her emotions and maintain a strict regimen of orderliness. Although she enjoys ballet, Ray refuses to freestyle and often quotes Mikhail Baryshnikov: "Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun." Molly attempts to show her how to have fun, which at first causes conflict between them, but eventually Ray begins to bring her guard down. Molly continues to pursue Neal and holds onto his lucky jacket in hopes of seeing him again. After a baking accident, Molly causes a fire that damages Neal's jacket. She redesigns it to fix the damage, but Neal breaks up with Molly when he sees it, insisting he has to focus on his music career and does not have time for her flightiness. Soon after, he lands a record deal with Roma and has a hit music video with a song that Molly inspired him to write, all while wearing the jacket Molly made.