Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Jon Gries, Kyra Sedgwick
Writer: William Thomas Dean IV
Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: June 5, 2026

CAROLINA CAROLINE begins by showing us things went very wrong somewhere as we meet a young woman, whose name we’ll learn is Caroline (Samara Weaving), wearing a black wig and sunglasses, walking unsteadily out of a nondescript motel to vomit in the parking lot.

When a pickup truck pulls up, Caroline stands, pulls a gun, carjacks the driver (without shooting him), steals the vehicle and drives off. She removes the black wig while driving, checks out the man’s wallet, sees there’s not much cash.

Caroline goes into a gas station convenience store. There are “armed and dangerous” posters up for her, but they show her in the black wig, not as she looks without it. She shoplifts an item or two, buys a greeting card at the counter and does the old PAPER MOON scam with the cashier, confusing him so that she winds up getting back in change double what she spent.

An onscreen title tells us it’s now “Three Months Earlier, Texas.”

Caroline is sitting in the parking area for a different gas station convenience store, where she works. She is impressed by a cool car that pulls up. The good-looking driver, Oliver (Kyle Gallner), does the bamboozle the cashier/double his change back routine.

Caroline witnesses this. She’s not bamboozled, but rather tentatively intrigued. She confronts Oliver about what he’s done, he cheerfully admits it. There are sparks on both sides.

That night, Caroline spots Oliver’s car outside a local bar. She goes in, sits down next to him. One thing leads to another. He’s smitten; she’s fascinated.

Oliver tells Caroline he’ll do anything she wants, and he seems to mean it. What Caroline wants first, apart from Oliver’s affection, is for him to teach her how to pull cons.

This is very successful, especially as there are scams that can be done with a partner that can’t be accomplished solo.

Then Caroline wants two other things. She lives with and has a warm relationship with her dad, Hank (Jon Gries), who raised her as a single father. Caroline’s mom abandoned them both when Caroline was a baby.

Despite Hank’s warnings, Caroline wants to drive to South Carolina to meet her mom. A road trip is no problem for Oliver.

The other thing Caroline wants to do is rob banks. While Oliver hasn’t done this before, he’s more than willing to oblige. The problem is that, no matter how carefully they are planned, bank robberies attract a lot of notice from law enforcement.

It’s not clear exactly when CAROLINA CAROLINE is meant to be taking place, but phone booths are plentiful, people read newspapers, and there’s not a mobile in sight.

While the pre-contemporary era may not be absolutely necessary for the storytelling, it fits with the movie’s old-fashioned-feeling romance and pacing. There is genuine chemistry between Weaving and Gallner, so that we like them and want to see what happens between them as a couple.

The way the relationship is depicted removes CAROLINA CAROLINE from the film noir genre, as we’re never worried about betrayal. The encroaching danger is simply the nature of the lifestyle Oliver has chosen and Caroline has accelerated.

The script by William Thomas Dean IV hints at the notion that Caroline has bitten off more than she can chew without understanding the implications, and that Oliver is so intoxicated with her that his judgment takes a back seat. This might have withstood a little more examination, but as it is, there is enough nuance to the characters to keep us engaged.

Director Adam Carter Rehmeier has a few shots that seem to be art for art’s sake, but he mostly creates a steady mood akin to a narrative country-western or country-rock song, the kind that populate CAROLINA CAROLINE’s soundtrack. We see small towns, and glimpse folks living their lives, from the point of view of characters who are simultaneously envious and restless, respectful in theory but predatory in practice.

It is a bit of a mystery as to why the filmmakers decided to preview the film’s climax at its start. Some movies need to do this to let the audience know to hang in there, something is going to happen. Since that’s evident from the first meeting between Caroline and Oliver, CAROLINA CAROLINE holds our attention honestly throughout.

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