'Carolina Caroline' review: Kyle Gallner & Samara Weaving feel the heat in romantic crime drama

Magnolia Pictures

A good zebra can't change its stripes, but a good con artist can short-change anyone. We all know this fact. Also, when in doubt, just put a destination and a character name in the title and call it day. Here's how we get to Carolina Caroline, which stars Samara Weaving as the titular Caroline and Kyle Gallner as Oliver. She works at a Texan gas station when one day Oliver comes in through the door. He runs a small cash scam whilst paying for his purchases. Caroline, showing her smarts, notices this and confronts Oliver outside. Following some flirtation, boundary testing and a rendezvous, the two fall head over heels in love with each other. Naturally, Caroline and Oliver team up to become a fiery, crime-loving duo fuelled by gas, money and robberies, travelling from the deep south to the southeast of the United States. Caroline is also looking to find her mom who abandoned her when she was a child.

We should dig into the movie in a somewhat chronological order since the structure and story beats are more or less half of the things that occupy your mind right after the credits. This is especially the case because "CC" opens in medias res, and therefore it becomes yet another prime example for why said practice should perhaps be outlawed unless you do something engaging when it comes to structure or timelines. Unfortunately, writer Tom Dean's screenplay doesn't do that and instead the conflicts, revelations and emotional bursts arrive exactly when they're expected. While the film is clearly meant to be a "they-just-don't-make-'em-like-that-anymore" project, a tempo change, genre twists or a more unique crime would make it stand out more compared to works that undoubtedly inspired it. The good news is that Dean's charming characters, sharp dialogue and commitment to doomed romance help to offset the balance.

As a result, director Adam Carter Rehmeier can direct his attention towards the passionate love affair, which taps into a sense of shiftless existence where adrenaline and dopamine rushes are the only reason to keep going. This is what drives Caroline and Oliver on their rollercoaster ride. Underscored by country music needle drops (supervised by Lauren Fay Levy) that surprisingly aren't irritating and are in fact pertinent, their connection is the key to everything. But the movie's real superpower that forges that key in the first place is the tension between Gallner and Weaving. Their chemistry—a word that's definitely overused and overpraised, but is genuinely apt here—is undeniable and the two actors rob the viewers' hearts with their glances, smirks, physical intimacy and sex appeal. Yes, you heard right. Sex appeal and romantic chemistry are back on the menu at your nearest cinema. Revel in them while you can.

So while Rehmeier's romantic crime drama may not blow your mind at any point and some of the key scenes don't quite hit their target, like one featuring Kyra Sedgwick as Caroline's mom Deborah, the film is nonetheless a real hoot. Maybe, just maybe, you should skip the cold open, but after that, you get to have a sexy, lively and fun time with a dynamic pair who won't leave you cold. See it for Gallner and Weaving's performances alone, the rest is a bonus.

Smileys: Kyle Gallner, Samara Weaving

Frowneys: Structure

Oliver might find himself in the Caroline of fire.

3.5/5

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