''Nola'' is a 2003 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by Alan Hruska. It depicts the struggle of a young woman trying to survive in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

while looking for her birth father. It premiered in New York City on July 23, 2004.

Plot

After fleeing from her abusive stepfather, Nola (

Emmy Rossum Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress, director, and singer. She is known for her portrayal of List of Shameless (American TV series) characters#Fiona Gallagher, Fiona Gallagher in the television series ''Shame ...

) travels to

searching for her biological father. She spends her first night sleeping in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

, but her luck changes when she is hired by the owner of a small diner. She ends up staying with the frycook/law school student Ben (

James Badge Dale James Badge Dale (born May 1, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chase Edmunds in '' 24'', Robert Leckie in '' The Pacific'', State Trooper Barrigan in Martin Scorsese's ''The Departed'', Luke Lewenden in '' The Grey'', Eric Sa ...

) until the real owner of the diner, Ben's landlady Margaret (

Mary McDonnell Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in ''Dances with Wolves'' and May-Alice Culhane in ''Passion Fish''. McD ...

), hires Nola as her assistant for her

escort service An escort agency is a company that provides escorts for clients, usually for sexual services. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room (outcall), or at the escort' ...

. Things go well at the escort service until Niles, a billionaire client of Margaret's service, has a bad session. Niles likes to receive rough physical activity from men cross-dressing as women, but only to a point. Wendy, one of Niles's favorites, went a little too far and sent Niles into a rage. Niles demands Margaret rough Wendy up or else he will have it done, along with inducing the police to investigate the escort service. Nola attempts to help by making up Wendy to look battered and bruised, documenting it with photos, then sending her out of the country until Niles can calm down. Niles's informants spot Wendy, no longer wearing the bruise makeup, trying to flee. Niles responds by arranging a subpoena for Margaret to appear before a grand jury and calling Nola directly, threatening her by revealing detailed information about her upbringing. Further events lead Nola closer to finding her real father, but not without the help of a journalist (

Steven Bauer Steven Bauer (born Esteban Ernesto Echevarría Samson; December 2, 1956) is a Cuban-born American actor. Bauer began his career on PBS, portraying Joe Peña, the son of Cuban immigrants on '' ¿Qué Pasa, USA?'' (1977–1980) and is perhaps most ...

), who is in need of a story on escort services.

Cast

as Nola *

as Leo *

as Ben *

Thom Christopher Thom Christopher (born October 5, 1940)Staff"Thom Christopher" ''Soap Opera Digest''. Accessed May 28, 2009. "Native New Yorker Thom Christopher hails from the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights." is an American actor. Christopher attended ...

as Niles Sterling *

Sam Coppola Sam Coppola (July 31, 1932 – February 5, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in almost 70 films, beginning in 1968, but may be best remembered for his role as Dan Fusco, owner of the hardware and paint store in ''Saturday Night Fever'', wh ...

as Gus *

Adam LeFevre Adam LeFevre (born August 11, 1950) is an American character actor, poet, and playwright who works in cinema, television, theater and commercials. Biography LeFevre was born in Albany, New York, the son of Helen (née Rhodes), a hospital patient ...

as Sam *

Michael Cavadias Michael Cavadias (born February 16, 1970) is an American actor known for ''Wonder Boys'', the 2012 TV series ''Girls,'' and ''Difficult People'', as well as performing in theatre with the Mabou Mines and Blacklips. Early life and education Cavad ...

as Wendy *

Damian Young Damian Young (born October 27, 1961) is an American actor notable for his appearance in the Hal Hartley film ''Amateur'' (1994). He also featured in Hartley's earlier film ''Simple Men'' (1992), and has appeared in theatre, television and film. ...

as Maitre D' *

as Margaret Langworthy *

James Ransone James Finley Ransone III (born June 2, 1979) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles as Ziggy Sobotka in the second season of the drama series ''The Wire'', United States Marine Corps Cpl. Josh Ray Person in the war drama min ...

as Neo-Gothboy

Release and reception

''Nola'' received a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on August 29, 2003. On its opening weekend, the film grossed $6,010 at 19 theaters, with a per-theater average of $316. The film grossed a total of $10,550. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a 0% approval rating from critics, based on 13 reviews.

References

External links

* * * * {{mojo title, id=nola 2003 films 2003 romantic comedy films Films set in New York City 2000s English-language films