I am a huge fan of actress Mary McDonnell, which is the only reason I sat through the entire excruciating run of "Nola." And even an actress of McDonnell's considerable skills couldn't save this movie from itself.
To put it bluntly, the movie didn't want to admit it was a dumb "Kansas Girl Takes The Big Apple By Storm" flick, so it tossed in a few nuggets of controversy (transgenderism, age-play/BDSM, legalizing prostitution) to try to give it depth. Unfortunately, it didn't cover any of these topics with either depth or sensitivity, turning the entire script into something that more resembled a Talking-Points List for the extreme left than an actual story.
Nola herself was the only reasonably developed character, and I didn't like her. Mary McDonnell's character (the ex-hooker with a heart of gold, if you can believe it!) hinted at a background that might have been interesting, but there was no follow through. The other characters were one-dimensional and forgettable.
The plot twists, as they were, were formulaic and actually embarrassing at a couple of points, and the resolution of the film was just rushed and wrong.
As for me? I'm just going to put in a copy of "Sneakers" or "Dances with Wolves," or maybe watch a few episodes of "Battlestar Galactica," just so I can clear my mind of Mary McDonnell spitting out this dreck dialogue. Love ya, Mary. You're better than this.
To put it bluntly, the movie didn't want to admit it was a dumb "Kansas Girl Takes The Big Apple By Storm" flick, so it tossed in a few nuggets of controversy (transgenderism, age-play/BDSM, legalizing prostitution) to try to give it depth. Unfortunately, it didn't cover any of these topics with either depth or sensitivity, turning the entire script into something that more resembled a Talking-Points List for the extreme left than an actual story.
Nola herself was the only reasonably developed character, and I didn't like her. Mary McDonnell's character (the ex-hooker with a heart of gold, if you can believe it!) hinted at a background that might have been interesting, but there was no follow through. The other characters were one-dimensional and forgettable.
The plot twists, as they were, were formulaic and actually embarrassing at a couple of points, and the resolution of the film was just rushed and wrong.
As for me? I'm just going to put in a copy of "Sneakers" or "Dances with Wolves," or maybe watch a few episodes of "Battlestar Galactica," just so I can clear my mind of Mary McDonnell spitting out this dreck dialogue. Love ya, Mary. You're better than this.