Some movies you simply cannot help but adore. They hold a special place in your heart – a place you can return to years later and always find comfort in. ‘Uptown Girls’ is one of those movies. At first glance, it is your quintessential early-2000s comedy: a wild party-girl protagonist with a dreamy Y2K wardrobe and a chaotic New York lifestyle.
But beneath all that charm is a surprisingly thoughtful story about grief and growing up. At its heart, it is an opposite-attract story that sounds like a typical 2000s rom-com setup, until you realise that the central relationship is not romantic at all. It is between two girls who are dealing with loss and growing up in completely different ways.
‘Uptown Girls’ Is Really A Story About Surviving Grief
The late actress Brittany Murphy leads ‘Uptown Girls’ as Molly Gunn, a wealthy, spoiled and gloriously immature young woman whose life revolves around parties and shopping. But her seemingly carefree life falls apart when her accountant disappears with all the money her late parents left behind.
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Forced to find a job, she becomes a nanny to Ray, a precocious little girl who is serious and almost unnervingly mature for her age. She is also a stoic germaphobe with a sassy comeback for everything. Their personalities couldn’t be any more different, but at the same time, they begin to share an understanding.
Molly lost both her parents in a plane crash when she was 13. Rather than confronting what their deaths mean for her, she has remained frozen in the carefree version of herself, refusing to grow up and face reality. Her immaturity is her form of protection from grief.
Meanwhile, Ray is dealing with the possibility of losing her father, who is in a coma, while her mother is always absent from her life. Her response is almost the exact opposite. Ray has grown up far too quickly. She has convinced herself that attachment only leads to disappointment, so she has learned not to expect anything from anyone. As far as Ray is concerned, the only person she can rely on is herself.
Their friendship opens them up to different perspectives. Ray begins to understand that protecting herself from pain also means shielding herself from happiness. Meanwhile, Molly starts realising that being an adult does not mean constantly living according to everyone else’s expectations.
Molly And Ray Prove That Growing Up Does Not Have To Mean Losing Yourself
What really makes ‘Uptown Girls’ such a heartwarming movie is that it doesn’t stop at exploring grief. It understands that sometimes people grow around their grief rather than simply growing out of it.
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Molly’s childishness isn’t presented as something that needs to be completely erased. Despite being portrayed as pretty immature, Molly does know when to take a stand. Especially when it comes to Ray. She knew the exact way to stand up to her mom and remind her that Ray is just a child. And when she realises that Ray has gone to Coney Island to ride the Tea Cups, she chooses to be there for her, refusing to let Ray face the same things she felt as a child.
While Ray teaches Molly to become more in charge of her life, Molly teaches Ray something equally important: growing up doesn’t mean shutting down your immaturity and whimsies.
Perhaps this is why the movie remains so easy to return to. It is a tender reminder that growing up doesn’t mean having everything figured out. Sometimes, it means knowing when to be the adult, when to be the child and, most importantly, when to let someone else see both sides of you.
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