"Little Black Book," the new romantic comedy starring Brittany Murphy as an up-and-coming TV producer, raises the question: When does a movie go from being an homage to being a parasite?

Not only is Stacy Holt's favorite movie 1988's "Working Girl," her mother raised her on Carly Simon's songs. If Mom had a crisis, the appropriate tune went straight into the eight track. (Simon won an Oscar for "Let the River Run.")

Granted, there's something authentic about a character's life being infused with popular culture. But it is more than a little cloying when a film leans on a better movie for too much of its heart.

Jersey girl Stacy has big hopes of working one day with Diane Sawyer. (In the two degrees of separation that characterize this movie, Sawyer is married to Mike Nichols, who directed, you got it, "Working Girl.") For the moment, however, Stacy is employed as an associate producer for the "Kippie Kann Show."

Kathy Bates' talk-show maven is a cross between Sally Jesse Raphael and Jerry Springer.

Most everyone working for Kippie is too talented or jaded - or both.

Smart guy Ira (Kevin Sussman) can't spin the appropriately crass angle to save his life, let alone get a promotion. Producer Carl (Stephen Tobolowsky), your textbook sycophant, fawns over Kippie, then has the cameraman zoom in on one of her cosmetic flaws.

Stacy's most intriguing coworker becomes her mentor. Holly Hunter's aptly named Barb has a sharp, knowing way of playing the game. Just how well strikes us long before it dawns on Stacy.

Hunter's performance, the most compelling in the movie, winds up being almost too shaded for this light comedy.

With Barb's prodding, Stacy starts to snoop when her boyfriend Derek goes away, leaving his PDA at home. Faster than you can you say Pandora's box, Stacy has opened up a world of misery for herself.

"Little Black Book" intends to be a sophisticated and saucy take on the career gal's relationship/work dilemmas. And you would be right to be reminded of "Sex and the City."

Not only does the film begin with a Carrie Bradshaw-like voice-over, it co-stars Ron Livingston, who played one of Carrie's many beaus. Remember Berger, the guy who broke up with her by Post-it? Well, Livingston's Derek isn't much better at emotional clarity here.The New York Rangers recruiter and Stacy live together, and he's sweet as can be. But he hasn't introduced her to his parents. Worse, he hasn't exactly come clean about his ex-girlfriends: supermodel Lulu (Josie Maran), star gynecologist Dr. Keyes (Rashida Jones), or up-and-coming chef Joyce (Julianne Nicholson). Nicholson gives trust a believable and wonderfully freckled face.The mess Stacy makes as she uses the TV show as a pretense to interview Derek's exes has a moral, of course. Yet after the ethical lapses, her epiphany feels forced. And no amount of Carly's crooning is going to drown out that hollow ring.