Brittany Murphy's Best Film Roles

With the recent death of actress Brittany Murphy, the time is right for a look at some of Brittany Murphy's best film roles. While such things are highly subjective, my opinion is that her three best films were "Uptown Girls," "Just Married," and "Clueless."

Uptown Girls

In "Uptown Girls," Brittany Murphy portrays the daughter of a deceased famous music artist and guitarist. When Brittany Murphy's character is left homeless due to her crooked financial adviser running off with her inheritance from her famous father, her character is forced to take a job as a nanny for a spoiled young girl portrayed by Dakota Fanning. Brittany Murphy's character, Molly Gunn, learns to live life as an ordinary working girl, and Dakota Fanning's character learns to appreciate the joys of being a kid after having been raised in a sheltered and well-to-do environment. Both characters undergo transformation in a humorous and moving way, which makes this movie my favorite Brittany Murphy movie.

Just Married

"Just Married" is pure comedy, in which Brittany Murphy and Ashton Kutcher portray a couple who is just married and honeymooning in Europe. Brittany Murphy's character is from a well-off family, and Kutcher's character is an aspiring sports reporter who is slumming it as a traffic reporter for a local talk radio station. The plot details are unimportant to this move, as much of the humor is slapstick and silly comedy. But this movie is truly amusing in an unimportant but side-splitting way. Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy play well together on screen, and their comedic styles complement one another.

Clueless

Brittany Murphy's role in "Clueless" was relatively minor, but her character's alternative grungy style is a necessary complement to the fluffy pinkness of Alicia Silverstone's main character. Brittany Murphy undergoes a transformation from the unpopular and untrendy new girl in school to being te popular sidekick of Alicia Silverstone's character. Both characters must learn to embrace their popularity in a way that is honest to their inner souls, and both characters show a measurable increase of depth over the course of this light comedy. Brittany Murphy has several classic moments in Clueless; and although this is not a deep movie, it is moving ad sweet in a teenagery kind of way.

Although Brittany Murphy's movies are not the pinnacle of dramatic acting, she often found the balance between lightweight comedy bringing a meanignful backbone to her movies. Her death makes an imact on the romantic and comedic film genres, and her easy-on-the eyes smile will be missed on and off screen.