Brittany Murphy first came to prominence as the “ugly duckling” who got a makeover in 1995’s Clueless and she also enjoyed a long-running voice part on TV’s King of the Hill. Sadly. Murphy passed away in 2009, but she got in some lead roles in the early years of that decade, with 2003’s Uptown Girls as an example.

The daughter of a deceased rock star, Molly Gunn (Murphy) lives a lavish lifestyle and seems content to remain stuck in “party mode” even as she wanders through adulthood. This comes to a crashing halt when her accountant steals her massive inheritance.

In need of employment but with no skills, Molly manages to acquire a gig as a nanny for Larraine "Ray" Schleine (Dakota Fanning), an eight-year-old who acts like a stodgy grown-up. This leads the opposites to butt heads.

Gee, you don’t suppose that eventually Molly and Ray will rub off on each other, do you? Snark aside, Uptown offers a pretty standard “odd couple” tale.

Which doesn’t seem like a terrible conceit. Mismatched pairs exist as a comedic trope for a good reason, so Uptown comes with potential.

Too bad it rarely fails to live up to that potential. Despite a good cast and a few laughs, most of the movie feels stale and limp.

When Uptown succeeds, it does so solely due to its cast. I never understood why Murphy didn’t become a bigger star, as she possessed a compelling combination of beauty and comedic chops.

Granted, because she died at the age of 32, we don’t know where her career might’ve gone. However, she worked pretty hard at rom-com fame in the 2000s without much real success, so I suspect she would’ve enjoyed a productive time in Hollywood but never made it to the “A-list” status she might’ve deserved.

Anyway, Murphy does well as our lead. She encapsulates the role’s flaky side but also allows for the expected maturity to emerge in a natural manner.

Murphy also helps milk the movie’s often not-too-clever stabs at comedy for more laughs than they probably deserve. The script lacks cleverness but Murphy still manages to generate some amusement.

Fanning also offers a solid performance. She avoids the usual “cute kid” tendencies and doesn’t mug at the camera, choices that allow her to provide a good deadpan presence.

We find a capable supporting cast as well, with pros like Marley Shelton, Donald Faison, Heather Locklear and others in tow. None dazzle but they give this lightweight project a bit more backbone.

Too bad Boaz Yakin directs the film in such an indifferent manner. Granted, some of this stems from the screenplay’s generally lackluster nature, but Yakin does nothing to add verve or spice to the proceedings.

None of this makes Uptown a bad movie. As mentioned, the actors add enough spark to ensure we stay with it.

However, the final product just seems uninspired at best. Despite a few chuckles and some charming performances, Uptown Girls turns into a mediocre comedy.

Footnote: to my surprise, at no point does Uptown Girls use the Billy Joel song “Uptown Girl” despite that tune’s obvious influence on the title.

Uptown Girls appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a watchable but dated image.

Sharpness appeared decent for the most part, though not especially concise on a consistent basis. This meant we got visuals that seemed generally positive but a bit iffy too much of the time.

Although the movie came with no jaggies or shimmering, I did see light edge haloes. Mild print flaws cropped up, as I witnessed a handful of specks.

Colors leaned toward a heavy amber/red vibe that tended to feel too heavy. The hues sometimes looked pretty vibrant but they too often came across as overly thick.

Blacks also veered too dense, and shadows could seem somewhat murky. Almost certainly taken from an ancient DVD master, the movie looked okay but could really use an update.

At least the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack held up better, albeit with limited ambitions. I didn’t expect a lot from a project such as this and the end result brought the kind of comedy mix I anticipated.

Scenes related to Molly’s partying tended to expand the soundscape pretty well, and they boasted nice use of the back channels. Otherwise, this became a fairly average track for a comedy.

Music used the speakers well, and various atmospheric components added depth. Still, outside of those occasional club scenes, this felt like a standard comedy mix.

Audio quality worked fine, with music that appeared full and warm. Speech came across as natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.

Effects seemed appealing, as they seemed accurate and showed decent range. This was a more than competent track for this kind of tale.

No extras appear on the disc.

Thanks entirely to a solid cast, Uptown Girls manages to become a painless viewing experience. That stands as an underwhelming recommendation, though, as the film seems largely mediocre. The Blu-ray brings adequate audio along with dated visuals and no bonus materials. This winds up as a lackluster Blu-ray for a spotty movie.