The new romantic crime thriller, Carolina Caroline, directed by Adam Rehmeier and starring Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner, is the first screening I decided to attend at Philadelphia Film Society’s 2026 Springfest. Set sometime in the past and in the backdrop of the American southeast, this new-age “Bonnie and Clyde” style film has an old-school charm that’s hard to resist. While it’s ultimately predictable and familiar, it is still an enjoyable experience, anchored by two solid lead performances by Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner.
For anyone that’s seen Bonnie and Clyde, or anything similar to it, the plot of Carolina Caroline will sound quite familiar. A young woman named Caroline, who lives with her dad, meets an outlaw named Oliver. Swept off her feet by his good looks and charm, Caroline decides to join Oliver, leaving a trail of crime while simultaneously looking for her estranged mother throughout the southeast United States.
While there are a few wrinkles thrown in here and there to slightly differentiate it, this type of story has been done before. This familiarity can be comforting, but it’s also what makes the film predictable. We’ve all seen how these romantic crime thrillers go and, without saying too much, it follows the same trajectory more or less. Of course, that does not make it bad by any means. There’s a good amount of entertainment, it’s just that I feel like I’ve seen it before.
Despite all of that, there is still much to like here. Many of the production aspects of the film are solid, particularly the cinematography and production design. While not explicitly stated, it takes place sometime in the past, and things such as the production design and costumes help convey that pretty clearly. It gives it sort of this “classic” look and feel that others in the genre try to pull off, but don’t do it nearly as well.
Carolina Caroline is not a film that attempts to break new ground in the romantic crime thriller genre. It doesn’t try to do too much and plays it pretty safe, which results in a predictable story that you’ve probably seen before. Nevertheless, this is still an entertaining, well-made and acted film that does more right than wrong. This is essentially a modern age Bonnie and Clyde, and it pays homage to it quite well in that sense.
Rating: 3.5/5
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