Carolina Caroline review: TIFF romance doomed by predictability

Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner bring life to “Carolina Caroline,” but its love-and-con story at TIFF plays out like a familiar hit—until the final act turns unexpectedly raw. Magnolia Pictures releases the film in theaters on Friday, June 5.

By the time Oliver slides into the West Texas filling station where Caroline works. the shape of their story is already impossible to miss. Samara Weaving’s Caroline has schemes on her mind. Kyle Gallner’s Oliver has a sly smile and a cheeky plan ready to go—and “Carolina Caroline” lets you feel the water rising around them from the first move to the last.

Set in an indefinite 20th century. the film leans into lovers-on-the-run mythmaking: two dreamers born to run. surviving on unbridled passion and hustles they can’t fully control until things get dangerously close. It’s a classic American pairing. the kind of on-screen duo previously immortalized in “They Live By Night. ” “Bonnie and Clyde. ” and “Badlands.” But Caroline and Oliver aren’t aware they’re living inside an old template. and the movie keeps reminding you of that mismatch—because it doesn’t have a happy ending.

Written by Tom Dean—marking his second credited doomed romance to premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival following “Charlie Harper”—and directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier. “Carolina Caroline” traffics in archetypes and clean. familiar storytelling imagery. The problem is simple: there are no real surprises, narratively or otherwise. The moment Oliver walks in with his scam. you can set a watch to the way their love affair will unfold.

That predictability isn’t treated like a flaw to hide. Instead, it’s used like a stage for performance. Weaving plays Caroline as a small-town girl who longs to travel but can initially dream only as far as South Carolina. where her derelict mother lives. The film risks making her too naïve or too inept to be dangerous—but Weaving gives her just enough cunning that Caroline never reads as a simple victim. She also asks Oliver what he does for a living, because she understands she’s stepping into something.

Gallner’s Oliver could have coasted on charisma alone. but he adds a romantic streak that makes his character feel drawn rather than performed. His love for Caroline is never in doubt. Even as a conman, he wouldn’t make her his mark. The film gives him moments of sensitivity—dancing with Caroline in a bar. then shaking the hand of her father (Jon Gries) before they leave Texas for good. His motivations stay a little mysterious. but the impression is clear: Oliver likes the iterant life. the thrill of the con. and the base enthusiasms Caroline embraces as the relationship starts to lock into rhythm.

Where the movie starts to soften into something more complicated is in its erotic chemistry and the way the plot’s moral accounting keeps arriving. Their chemistry begins at a simmer and quickly reaches a boil, smoothing over the rougher patches in the middle. Caroline also grows a conscience right around the time the couple starts robbing banks in earnest. She realizes that a Mia Wallace-style wig while waving a gun doesn’t make her a different person—she’s still instilling fear in innocent people.

The epiphanies keep coming, and so does the sense of danger. Caroline realizes Oliver is legitimately dangerous, someone who would threaten a hotel employee with a gun while delivering room service. But even with Weaving and Gallner pushing through the material, some scenes mostly feel like going through the motions. The film also halts in a detour for Caroline to meet her alcoholic mother (Kyra Sedgwick). a stop that steels her resolve to outrun the past once and for all.

Visually. “Carolina Caroline” commits to its less connected world with production design and costuming: payphones. newspapers. and coin-operated jukeboxes help sell the era. even as the story floats in an intentionally dreamlike tone. Cinematographer Jean-Philippe Bernier brings warmth to the visual palette, matching the protagonists’ self-image. Still. the film can feel too formally slick at times—especially when set against Rehmeier’s previous two films. “Dinner in America” and “Snack Shack.” Montages of con jobs and a wall-to-wall soundtrack add momentum. but also give the whole thing a television-like frictionlessness for stretches. as if the movie wants audiences to indulge the fantasy the way Caroline and Oliver do—right up until the fantasy stops working.

Then the final act arrives, and the movie changes gears.

When “Carolina Caroline” reaches its desperate closing stretch—when our heroes know they’re doomed—it turns unexpectedly emotional compared to the conventional foundation laid earlier. Rehmeier has previously shown a facility for drawing unique performances, garnering distinctive work from both relative newcomers and seasoned actors. In “Carolina Caroline,” that talent sits at centerstage alongside Weaving and Gallner. Both excel at playing distressed criminals who feel the heat on their tail. but the distress doesn’t stay merely combustible. It curdles into shared heartbreak and grief as clarity creeps in, and the emotions start to land with more force.

Their last moments together may not be distinctive in the particulars—chances are you’ve seen a version of it before. But for a brief moment. their love and pain become tangible in a way the earlier inevitability threatens to sand down. When the “hits” are bulletproof. sometimes what you really need is a great cover band to make them feel fresh again.

Grade: B

“Carolina Caroline” premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures will release the film in theaters on Friday, June 5.

Carolina Caroline review Samara Weaving Kyle Gallner Adam Carter Rehmeier Tom Dean Toronto International Film Festival 2025 Magnolia Pictures June 5 release