Dakota Fanning’s 22-Year-Old Cult Classic Movie That Critics Originally Hated Is Now A Worldwide Netflix Streaming Sensation

Dakota Fanning’s cult classic Uptown Girls is now an international Netflix hit. The 2003 coming-of-age story centers around a childish adult woman (Brittany Murphy) who works as a nanny for a precocious 8-year-old (Dakota Fanning).

Arriving early in her successful child acting career, Uptown Girls debuted when movie star Dakota Fanning was just nine years old, with the coming-of-age film being followed by memorable roles in Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, Charlotte’s Web, Coraline, and The Twilight Saga. Now 31, Fanning continues to be recognized for her two-and-a-half decades of roles, both as a child star and today an adult actor.

Now, as Fanning also breaks records with her new roles, Uptown Girls has become a Netflix hit over two decades after its release. According to the numbers from FlixPatrol, Uptown Girls is currently the number seven movie on Netflix’s worldwide streaming charts.

Uptown Girls Dakota Fanning Brittany Murphy

Helping it to this status are countries like Jamaica and the Bahamas, where it sits at number two. It has also recorded success this week in nations such as Argentina (number four), France (number five), Italy (number four), and the UK (number eight).

Though it’s currently enjoying success elsewhere across the globe, it’s important to note that Uptown Girls is not currently available on Netflix in the United States. However, American audiences can stream the movie for free on both Pluto TV and Tubi, or rent it on Prime Video starting at $2.99.

Though a sweet coming-of-age story, Uptown Girls was not particularly well-received by critics at the time of its release. The movie holds just a 14% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes even today, and made $44 million worldwide on a reported $20 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).

That said, Uptown Girls‘ legacy has grown to become more well-beloved and positive in recent years, establishing the Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning-led dramedy as a 2000s cult classic.

Uptown Girls is not a holiday film, so it’s not clear why exactly the movie has gotten its second wave right at this moment. However, stills of Murphy and Fanning from the film have gone viral in a social media trend this year. Additionally, Uptown Girls‘ Netflix resurgence falls close to the anniversary of Murphy’s death on December 20, 2009, though this wouldn’t be common knowledge to most fans.

Fanning remains a relevant figure in Hollywood, so the success may be partially attributable to fans going back to check out one of her earlier roles. She was recently in the well-received miniseries All Her Fault on Peacock, which aired just last month. Emphasizing Fanning’s enduring popularity, All Her Fault became Peacock’s most-watched series launch of all time.

Throughout the past 23 years, audiences have always been the biggest champions of Uptown Girls. The Popcornmeter for the film was far more forgiving, at a reasonably positive 61% score. This endorsement seems to have happened again on a global scale, as the movie gets a well-deserved second life on streaming decades later.

Release Date

August 15, 2003

Runtime

92 minutes

Director

Boaz Yakin

Writers

Lisa Davidowitz, Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik, Allison Jacobs

Producers

Allison Jacobs, Fisher Stevens, John Penotti, Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr., Tim Williams

• Brittany Murphy

  Molly Gunn

• Dakota Fanning

  Ray Schleine