Carolina Caroline
Caroline Daniels (Samara Weaving, "Ready or Not 2") watches a smooth talking stranger (Kyle Gallner, "Dinner in America") pull a quick-change scam on Charlie (Tommy G. Kendrick), the elderly cashier at the gas station where she works, and follows him out to confront him about it. Oliver is taken with the young woman and hands over the $10 bill he'd hustled. The two will meet again when Caroline sits beside Oliver at a local bar and becomes fascinated with his carefree, wide-ranging approach to life and agrees to go with him on what will become a crime spree across the American South en route to South Carolina to find the mother who abandoned her and her father Hank (Jon Gries, HBO's 'The White Lotus') in "Carolina Caroline."
Laura's Review: B
Director Adam Rehmeier reunites with his "Dinner in America" breakout star for a sexy lovers-on-the-run tale whose stars elevate screenwriter Tom Dean's ("Charlie Harper") rather cliched and predictable tale. What Dean has added to the 'small town girl has head turned by worldly bad boy' template is Caroline's exploration of her own moral identity and each of her parents' influence on it. Why Kyle Gallner isn't a bigger star than he is by now is a mystery, the actor creating a complicated character who does bad things but is easy to love.
Before Caroline takes off with Oliver, we'll meet her dad and hear about their 'code phrase,' 'the day I don't call is the day I moved to Ecuador,' something Hank would tell his daughter when his military duty took him away from home and one which we know will be significant later. Touchingly, he presses an envelope into Caroline's hands before she takes off. She'll open it to find three twenties. 'That'll get us started,' observes Oliver with a smile. Looking concerned, Caroline asks him if he ever feels bad about what he does. 'Sometimes,' he replies, noting his interaction with Charlie, but 'I don't do it out of greed. I don't do it out of anger. I just see the angle.' Later he'll rationalize just who they are stealing from - not the people they actually interact with, but shareholders who are losing a fraction of a penny for their much more considerable gain. It's always been a dubious argument but Gallner sells it.
Stopping at one of many honky-tonks that support the film's country soundtrack, Oliver will pull Caroline up to dance to Morgan Wallen's 'Cover Me Up,' the song that will define them as Rehmeier indulges his first of many scenes intercutting action with hot, sensual sex. After a swipe edit steps us through the stealing of a wallet, the protege, who started by escalating the quick-change scam, beats her impressed mentor with a street con, stealing his watch as a final flourish, a real turn-on for both. After pulling a confidence game on Mr. Henry (Robert Stevens Wayne), a businessman on a train, Caroline wonders how much cash it would take for the two to fly the coop and, hearing the amount, decides she's ready to hit banks. They start small, Caroline donning a black wig and sunglasses to secure the cash while Oliver mans the getaway car. But after a string of successful jobs (insert cliched shot of showering bills on a bed), she'll find herself pointing a gun at a frightened little girl, the duo gain notoriety and are recognized by a room service waiter, then see cops canvassing the area with Caroline's sketch.
Demoralized, Caroline asks to head to South Carolina, now anxious to get to her intended destination, but when she asks a neighbor if he knows where Deborah (Kyra Sedgwick, "Bad Shabbos") is, she's pointed to the bar on the corner. Sure enough, in walks a woman with a loud mouth and big thirst and when, after a couple of screwdrivers Deborah realizes who she's talking to, she dashes Caroline's hopes for anything resembling maternal affection. Worse, Caroline's seen glimpses of her recent behavior in those few minutes with her mother and it is hinted she may be about to become one herself.
This is Weaving's third film of 2025 and she goes somewhere new as the small town Texas gal shocked to find herself making similar choices as the mother who deploys withering sarcasm when she recognizes just who's come to find her. The smart young woman who sees opportunity in the small time grifter acquits herself with confidence, then displays shock and vulnerability when the walls begin to close in, bouncing back into form as a means of survival. Gallner is a slick charmer who immediately assumes a protective air around his costar while still enabling her to spread her wings. These two have fun together when they're not sizzling up the screen. Gries is the sympathetic, stable anchor representing Caroline's home while Sedgwick is his shockingly callous opposite.
Rehmeier catalogs his lovers' path with captions identifying states as they pass through them while cinematographer Jean-Philippe Bernier uses a wide angle lens capturing Caroline and Oliver in his blue Chevy SS, suggesting the wide expanse of country the couple is traveling.
Magnolia Pictures releases "Carolina Caroline" in theaters on 6/5/26.
