It’s a story as old as time.
A girl meets a handsome stranger who is passing through town. He utterly charms her, despite -– or maybe because of -- being a small-time criminal, and not too much time after, they are already heading out of town for unknown adventures.
They’re happy, in lust, and gleefully conning gullible people along the way until one day the girl wonders what it would feel like to rob a bank.
Despite featuring all of the above-mentioned, and therefore coming off as sort of predictable, Carolina Caroline, the latest feature from Adam Rehmeier (Dinner in America), is a rare film that actually transforms itself as it moves along. In the beginning, when Kyle Gallner’s Oliver dazzles his way into Caroline’s (Samara Weaving) heart with his short-change scams, there is just a bit too much of a too-cool-for-school vibe about both him and the movie itself.
With its overabundance of music, bright colors, and allegories involving birds, it might seem as if the film takes itself too seriously, just like Weaving’s heroine gets almost comically wide-eyed when Oliver spouts his vague anti-capitalist angst and thoughts on redistribution of wealth.
This appears to be the remnants of the original screenplay, which was significantly tweaked along the way, which becomes obvious soon enough. It's when the two are well and truly on the road that the realization dawns on the audience (and later on the characters as well) that these two aren’t Bonnie and Clyde as they, perhaps, would prefer to be seen as. They are Alabama and Clarence, or maybe even Honey Bunny and Pumpkin. The endless charisma of both Weaving and Gallner, which first serves as a saving grace when they have to get through some rather stilted dialogue, later pays off as an actual element of this bittersweet story.
Charm is the only real capital Caroline and Oliver can bank on in the world of the film, set somewhere in the more or less recent past, but before 9/11 and the universal use of cell phones. For all the lyricism of the country songs in the background and the vividness of neon lights, this is a reality of a flawed economy, broken homes, and adults always carrying their childhood traumas and baggage with them, while striving to control at least something in their life, anything.
The great Kyra Sedgwick appears at some point in a memorable episode to decimate everything and everyone in her vicinity, and to remind us that even freedom, the most valuable currency in stories like this, always comes with the highest price of all, and you never know who’ll end up paying.
In the end, Carolina Caroline starts really shining when it sheds the pretense of being a crime thriller and reveals itself as a surprisingly tender love story. As so many couples before them who decided to go on the road with the money that doesn’t belong to them, Oliver and Caroline are raging against the unfair world, giving the impression that this might be the reason for them to stick together.
The word “love” cleverly doesn’t really appear until the very end, but starting from a certain point, it can actually be felt. There aren’t that many ways this type of story can go, and sure, love doesn’t necessarily conquer all, but from all the possible rides, it still seems to be the one worth taking.
The film opens Friday, June 5, 2026, via Magnolia Pictures. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes. https://www.carolinacarolinemovie.com/home/