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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Molly smiles...and she radiates a glow around her halo...", February 21, 2004
More frequently in the last year I have found myself stopping at the store on the way home from a movie or making a special trip after seeing a DVD to pick up a soundtrack album (with "soundtrack album" defined as one in which they are songs by a collection of artists as compared to a more traditional musical score). I actually have a theory as to why this has been happening more often. The rule of thumb with such soundtracks has always been if there were three songs worth having (e.g., the soundtrack from "Philadelphia"). The soundtracks for "A Mighty Wind" and "Freaky Friday" easily meet that threshold, but they speak to a change in movie "musicals" (Oscar nominatin for "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow!" Yes!) Not that we have characters suddenly bursting into songs and giant production numbers, but rather than we have singing characters and songs that are key parts of the film and not just used as background (e.g., the use of Evanescene's "My Immortal" and "Bring Me to Life" in "Daredevil"). Current case in point, the soundtrack for "Uptown Girls."This 2003 film recycles the old plot about two unlikely people who become friends. This time it is 23-year-old Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy) and 8-year-old Ray Schleine (Dakota Fanning). Music is involved because Molly's dearly departed father was a rock legend whose one solo single was a song about his daughter and Ray's mom owns her own record label. Molly has a boyfriend, who is inspired about her to write a song, "Sheets of Egyptian Cotton," which is included on the album, sung by Jesse Spencer. The story is totally predictable in terms of the overall arcs, but the ending is quite affective. Molly does not want to hear the song here dad wrote about her, and at the end of this film we finally get to hear the song, "Molly Smiles." Now, if you are looking at the CD you should have already have seen the movie, which means you know that this song perfectly catches the moment. But think about how many plot threads that final scene brings together: (1) we get to hear "Molly Smiles," (2) Neal makes up with Molly, (3) we find out what happened to Tommy Gunn's guitars, (4) Ray makes up with Molly, (5) Ray finally dances free style, (6) Ray learned some moves from Molly, and (7) Ray wore Molly's designer tutu. There are probably more, but that is just off the top of my head. I bet there are people who bought the DVD of "Uptown Girls" just to watch that scene (I watched the ending over a dozen times before I returned the DVD), but it is better to listen to the CD at work or driving the car. "Sheets of Egyptian Cotton" is the other prominent "real" song in the film (both were written by Carlos Melendez), and although the hook is catchy it will drive you crazy after a while (and it really does not seem to match the rest of the song). In terms of the background music the best of the bunch is the single released for the film's video, "Time" by Chantal Kreviazuk. "Charmed Life," the opening song by Leigh Nash is pretty good and Toby Lightman's "Frightened" is in the running, along with Erin McKeown's "Slung-Lo" and "Martina Sorbara's "Spinning Around the Sun." Like the "Freaky Friday" soundtrack, a lot of the songs are appropriately by female artists and makes for a pleasant enough album when you finally decide to play something else besides track 12. But you will probably pick this one up for the song about daddy's little girl because "Nothing's wrong when Molly smiles."
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