Uptown Girls (92 minutes)

*NEWS FLASH*

Welcome back to The 90-Minute Movie: the only Substack newsletter dedicated to short runtimes and tiny bladders. (I had to go during Nosferatu recently but truthfully, I don’t think I missed anything. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, but I have a knack for knowing when to dip out.)

In case you missed it: I was a guest on Jonathan Ytreberg’s The Oscar Project podcast last week on which we chatted about 1928’s Tempest. It’s the first time I’ve discussed silent films on a podcast and I enjoyed it so much. I was pushed outside my comfort zone with the content and runtime (just 1 minute over my usual cut-off). Give it a listen and if you’re not too busy you can also SUBSCRIBE right now. That way you’ll always know what I’m watching and obsessing over.

Within the last 4 years or so, I’ve been embracing my femininity in ways I never have before. I’m feeling girly, I’m feeling flirty, I’m buying glitter eyeshadow, and doing crazy shit like blow-drying my hair. I think in part it comes from work I’ve been doing to heal my inner child and also my cultural interest in Sabrina Carpenter. The cards have been stacked against me. I grew up with brothers. I was, for lack of a better word, a bit of a “pick me” in college. I was an executive assistant for many years constantly fighting to be taken seriously by older men. I read both Lean In and GIRLBOSS and I probably read them back-to-back. I was a lost (millennial) cause. But then the Gen Z girlies arrived and they were like, “No, we’re going to be feminine. We’re going to be kinder. And softer.” Hell yeah. I have just been so happy to finally connect with this part of myself. It has made me a better and stronger person.

And with all of this personal growth in becoming a girl’s girl at the ripe old age of 37, I decided it was time to finally watch Uptown Girls (92 minutes). Yes, that is right. For the first time. I went into this as blind as possible. I knew certain quotes and clips thanks to TikTok and memes over the years, but that was it. I didn’t look for reviews or Rotten Tomatoes scores (which are all pretty dismal by the way and I’ll get into that) and I didn’t do any research on Directors or Producers. Instead, I went in how I would have when I was 15 (which is how old I was when this movie was released in 2002). I popped some popcorn, grabbed some candy, and cuddled up on my couch to understand what it was to be a girl in 2002.

Uptown Girls is the sugary sweet tale of what happens when an emotionally stunted young adult, Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy), meets an emotionally warped child, Ray (Dakota Fanning) in the greatest city on earth. (Are we still calling NYC this? We’re one MTA fare hike away from a mass revolt, but ok.) Molly has never had to want for anything. Her rockstar parents set her up with a trust fund that has supported her since their death when she was young. But this massively traumatic event and endless access to cash has turned her into a well-dressed, socialite version of Peter Pan. When her financial advisor runs off with all of her money, however, Molly finds work as a nanny to Ray, the daughter of a high-powered music exec (Heather Locklear) and a father that she keeps calling a “vegetable” -- he is in a coma. Naturally, the two clash as they each try to heal their respective grief.

As I had hoped, this is the ultimate “girly movie”. Hitting three key points:

1) The primary relationship is a female friendship.

2) We are introduced to the concept that women can feel sad and happy sometimes on the same day (shocking),

3) The fashion delivers.

Now, imagine me sitting and enjoying this sweet, little movie, even shedding a tear or two, and then seeing it has a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. I thought to myself, “Is everyone emotionally bankrupt!?” But I, of course, have Letterboxd to soothe my concerns where Uptown Girls currently sits at a very happy 3.9/5 rating. Even though it was heavily ridiculed by (mostly male) critics at the time, the movie is remembered fondly by fans as one that means something to them. And I can see why. What almost every critic in 2002 failed to understand (or failed to even try and understand) is that Uptown Girls attempts to tackle the vast experience that is grief. Does it do a perfect job? No. However many of the critics did not allow for the complicated existence of grief and joy at the same time. The reviews reminded me a lot of those that were written for Practical Magic, the Nicole Kidman/Sandra Bullock classic I wrote about last fall. Critics deride both films for being all over the place tonally, without recognizing that it is possible to be both a drama and comedy because that is grief. That is being a woman. Or as the kids would say, “That is girlhood.”

I am by no means suggesting that Uptown Girls is some cinematic masterpiece that was wildly misunderstood. But I do think it was judged rather harshly and for reasons having nothing to do with the film’s merits. One review (by a woman mind you) reads: “Saucereyed and hedgehog-haired, Brittany Murphy thinks, wrongly, that she is adorably kooky as the party girl.” Another asks, “Can two over-pampered but fundamentally lonely persons of the blonde female persuasion bond meaningfully with each other while shopping?” Which, correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t actually remember a shopping sequence in this movie? At least not one as memorable to make it to the review. Yes, these are painful to read but it’s important to remember that a Rotten Tomatoes score is an aggregate of sharp words like this, which again, have nothing to do with the qualities of the film itself.

Which could be better. Do I believe the 3.9 on Letterboxd is deserved? Not entirely. I’ve put it soundly at a 3 for my own review. While Murphy and Fanning do amazing work with a rather formulaic script, the dull dialogue still exists. Where there are some areas that I find the movie rather moving, there are others that disturbed me and I couldn’t shake. Molly’s male best friend (Donald Faison) who insists in taking her out as a sort of trophy and the lack of a conversation after she catches her ex Neal (Jesse Spencer) sleeping with her employer (nothing wrong there but still, like, I would have had words with both of them?) stand out to me as very icky and very 2002. The plot doesn’t go anywhere too exciting though it is satisfying to watch Molly call Neal selfish and walk off at the mid-point of the movie. The direction is neither groundbreaking or distractingly bad, which again, is why we’re sitting at a solid 3 stars. I suppose had I seen this at the age of 15 my nostalgia may take up more room in my scoring.

I did feel nostalgic, however, with the costuming. I was catapulted right back to the whimsy and extravagance of the early aughts with Molly’s bright, colorful, and fun wardrobe. It reminded me that we used to have fun once. This was a time when adults would wear eight different colors on the runway (and they weren’t named Jojo Siwa). We layered. We put sparkles in our hair. Fashion looked at us and said hey, silly, put ON a tutu! Costume designer Sarah Edwards (Ocean’s Eight, Severance) put together not only an incredible list of designer items but also worked in fun secondhand pieces like the iconic denim dress Molly wears to pick up Ray from school. (That you can now buy a cosplay version of on Amazon.) Molly is unapologetically girly and light and it shows in her fashion choices and hairstyles (always loose, always wavy). Even though I typically go for a pair of loose straight-legged jeans and a button-down, Molly has once again inspired me to live a bit more… flowery.

At times it can feel a little sad to miss out on a major cultural moment but with Uptown Girls I think it has found me right when it should have. I’m not sure it will enter my rotation of comfort films; it is perhaps too late for that, but I will think of it fondly while I actively engage with trending TikTok sounds and memes.