Movie Review: All Crime is Passionate In "Carolina Caroline"
10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
Adam Carter Rehmeier’s Carolina Caroline is a great argument for stealing from the best. This steamy crime saga does not even slightly disguise the fact that it is a spiritual retelling of Bonnie and Clyde. A charismatic grifter pulls a naive but willing woman into an addictive spiral of stealing and sex. However, it’s been some time since the great depression and the standards for romance have changed. It’s not enough to simply get a shared rush from ripping people off. We have to believe that the infatuation is deep. Thankfully, Rehmeier has chosen Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner to embody these archetypes, so that work is almost done from the moment they open their beautiful mouths.
We meet Caroline (Weaving) as she happens upon Oliver (Kyle Gallner) carrying out a short change scam at the gas station she works in. Immediately fascinated, she gets over her shyness to flirtatiously call him out. Before long, they’re at a bar with Oliver waxing poetic about how stealing only affects those with money to burn. Caroline vents to him about how she’s never been outside of Texas or met her long lost mother (Kyra Sedgwick). They truly hear one another and before long, they’re in each other’s arms. They decide to embark on a cross country trip to South Carolina so that Caroline can finally find out if the mother she dreamed of is worth knowing and along the way, become more and more addicted to larceny. Eventually, short changing isn’t enough. Caroline wants to rob banks and Oliver is more than happy to be the wheelman.
Samara Weaving has usually played rather outgoing characters. Someone who is more willing to fight and taunt her enemies than run away. Here, she completely sheds that persona to capture someone who hasn’t realized just how much fire she has inside of her. At first, her body language and demeanor is reserved and even awkward. Caroline has only vaguely imagined a life outside of her father’s (Jon Gries) house and when Oliver presents that possibility, we slowly watch her realize just how excited she is to be free. This connection is so empowering that eventually her newfound confidence turns to a false sense of invincibility. A different beast overtakes her when she slaps a black wig on and enters a bank with a gun, one that in her mind cannot be stopped. It is without question the most rich character Weaving has gotten to play so far and she nails it.
Oliver is not your typical bad boy. He’s a smooth talker who is more bark than bite even in dangerous scenarios. He wants the freedom to live on the lam and steal but he also leaps at the chance to find stability and belonging with Caroline. He’s sweet even when he’s trying to be cool and Kyle Gallner harnesses that energy to diabolically loveable effect. Usually with these types of stories, the man eventually becomes controlling, insecure and abusive towards a woman he views as one of many conquests. Not Oliver. He is a true romantic. It is deeply refreshing to live inside an exciting and dangerous dynamic like this without emotional masochism coming into play.
Continuing his streak of character driven indies, Rehmeier mostly uses the brief spurts of action to relish Weaving and Gallner’s intimacy. The payoff of a bank robbery scene isn’t how ferocious Caroline is or how much money she steals. It’s the amorous look in Oliver’s eyes as she sprints into the car. So much of the sexual chemistry comes from how genuinely impressed Oliver is with Caroline as she embraces her inner rage more and more. This makes it all the more heartbreaking when, as is inevitable in these stories, their luck starts to run thin. Our concern for them isn’t rooted in wanting to see two people who are bucking authority get away scott free. It just feels like a crime against nature that Caroline and Oliver ever be forced to live without one another.
It is all too rare in the modern era to find a film that is both romantic and sexy. Usually, we OD on one and sterilize the other. Carolina Caroline is delightfully old school in many aspects but at heart, it’s true thrills simply come from watching Weaving and Gallner take each other in. Their chemistry is so intoxicating that even the film’s most formulaic moments still cause a blissful contact high. Singles, be careful with this one. You just might delete the dating apps and start building a rap sheet to meet the one.