Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner are electric in crime thriller Carolina Caroline

Dinner in America was one of my favorite movies from 2020. It's a punk rock odyssey through small town America about two misfits that seem like they'd never connect, and yet, they do. I was excited to learn that director Adam Rehmeier was teaming up with Kyle Gallner again for Carolina Caroline, and this time, bringing Samara Weaving along for the ride. The result is a well-crafted crime thriller with outstanding performances from Weaving and Gallner that prove they're two of the most exciting young actors in the game today.

Like Dinner in America, Carolina Caroline interrogates small town American culture. This is evident from the red, white, and blue title cards, down to the mostly country, bluegrass and Americana soundtrack. The movie is set in Texas and follows Caroline, played by Weaving, who nails the Southern drawl. She works at a filling station and does just about every job there, from mopping the floors to cleaning the counters. She's never been out of Texas, and her father, Charlie (Tommy G. Kendrick), mostly sits at home and watches TV, surrounded by empty beer cans. Yet, he's not quite a stereotypical redneck dad, and he and Caroline do have some moving and sweet scenes together. He wants what's best for his daughter, especially after her mom left her when she was a little girl.

Caroline's life is upended when she meets the criminal Oliver (Gallner). He tries to swindle the filling station cashier, and Carolina catches him. The two fall for each other fast and hard, and during their first date together in a Texas dive bar, he asks her why she's never ditched Texas and what her dreams are. She responds that she wants to travel to South Carolina. He laughs because it seems like such a narrow dream, but we eventually learn she wants to see her mother (Krya Sedgwick). This first date between them goes a long way in establishing their characters and their soon-to-be explosive romance. Oliver is a well-traveled hustler and petty criminal, while Caroline has never left the Texas state lines. It's evident early on they're going to influence and rub off on each other, for better or worse.

So taken by Oliver's smooth-talking, Caroline embarks upon a road trip with him across the American South. Eventually, he teaches her how to rob and steal by bumping into people and snatching their wallets or jewelry. He justifies his actions by diatribes about the one percent and how the system is rigged, and yet, even Caroline realizes that's a hollow justification for his actions. Still, the small-town girl takes to hustling and thieving and eventually, they start robbing banks. Caroline dresses in a black wig and sunglasses, but soon, their faces are plastered all over the Southern states, as their crimes grow bigger and bigger. It's a high Caroline and Oliver keep riding, though I did wonder why Caroline kept using the same disguise again and again, especially the same wig.

This film works well on several levels, including Tom Dean and William Thomas Dean IV's script, which never criticizes small town American life, but does show why it's good that Caroline leaves Texas. Additionally, she's an incredibly well-written character, including her relationship with her dad. The love and tenderness between them feel real. There's another emotional scene when Caroline does meet her mother in South Carolina at a dive bar. The meeting goes as poorly as it could have gone, underscoring Caroline's fears that she could turn out like her mom, a drunk with a checkered past and not much of a future.  Sedgwick's on-screen presence as Caroline's mom is limited, but the sequence she does have is quite powerful.

Along with the strong writing, this movie has electric performances from Gallner and Weaving, who have fantastic on-screen chemistry. Gallner has cemented himself as a bad boy character, be it in Dinner in America or more recently, Strange Darling. He plays the role well, and yet, he's able to crack through the overly masculine facades his characters give off, and this is true in his performance as Oliver, especially late in the movie. Oliver realizes his way of living has potentially doomed Carolina's future. Weaving, meanwhile, gives her most versatile performance to date, from a bank robber addicted to the high of stealing money to a young woman worried that she's forever screwed up her future. It's really the best performance she's given to date.

Carolina Caroline is one of those films I'll recommend to everyone, and most likely, it'll end up on my year-end, best-of list. It's a journey through small town Southern America, through the eyes of a criminal and a young woman who's never left Texas. The movie is romantic, riveting, and smart. It's a crime thriller with a hell of a lot of heart, and fantastic lead performances that prove Gallner and Weaving deserve to be even bigger stars.

Carolina Caroline is currently playing in theaters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNdC6SJ-TxY