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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.