by JOANNE LATIMER

Rock 'n' roll princess Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy) has fallen on hard times. Her accountant skipped town with her inheritance and she's utterly without skills - unless you count squealing with delight, shopping and pointlessly spinning around in circles. Yet we know Molly's going to be all right. How? In the opening scene, she fashions a hair clip from a candleholder. Now that's ingenuity! She's a survivor.

But it's a long road to solvency for Molly. Her hip Manhattan friends get her a job as a nanny and Molly's carefree ways are thrown in shocking relief beside the fuss-budget kid in her charge, Ray, played by Dakota Fanning. Could there be anything easier than this "odd couple" set-up? Yes. Add a negligent parent (Heather Locklear), upon which we can heap our righteous indignation. Locklear is an absentee mother and full-time record industry executive, which is career shorthand for evil.

Molly picks up the parenting slack, while pining for a guy she believes to be a "rock 'n' roll poet sex god." He has no time for her because he thinks deprivation and suffering help him write his sad-sack ballads. Maybe so. Molly soldiers on alone, wearing dresses that look like baby-doll pyjamas, and trying to pry the cork from Ray's ass.

Director Boaz Yakin (Price Above Rubies) asks us to endure a lot of smart-alecky lip from Ray. I call it the Home Alone Syndrome, where a kid is over-empowered and full of ready comments that sting. Sometimes kids cut through the falsities of grown-up posturing with a zinger from left field, but not every time they answer a direct question. You can only hope that little Fanning doesn't get railroaded into know-it-all roles for the next 10 years. Even better, let's hope there are no such roles.

As for Murphy, she's perfectly believable as a fallen rock bunny. Dishevelled and barely dressed - that's what she does best. As a nanny in Prada shoes, she takes easy pratfalls in the closet and slips on banana peels, reminding us that Uptown Girls isn't taking itself too seriously. Follow that lead.

Uptown Girls opens Friday, Aug. 15

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