‘Carolina Caroline’ Review: Kyle Gallner and Samara Weaving Rob and Throb in Old-School Crime Drama of Lovers on the Run [A-] TIFF

After maintaining his scream king title recently thanks to projects like the Smile films and Strange Darling, Kyle Gallner makes a pivot to romantic anti-hero territory in the road caper Carolina Caroline, his re-collaboration with Dinner in America director Adam Carter Rehmeier. Both he and fellow horror icon Samara Weaving form a dynamite central pairing that’ll make you scream in a film that answers the question JLo famously asked in her intro scene from Hustlers: Money does make you horny.

When the titular heroine Caroline (Samara Weaving) goes on a gas station run, she crosses paths with the alluring Oliver (Kyle Gallner). As she notices Oliver weaseling high-amount dollar bills from the cashier, instead of feeling appalled, there’s curiosity and elation. Not too long after Oliver teaches her his ways, the two lovers-turned-eventual outlaws go from duping cashiers to robbing banks as they trek across the American South. Especially for Caroline, their spree stems from the carnal rush of robbing more than a need to challenge authority or the system.

Once Caroline and Oliver steal more cash, it only makes Caroline all the more aroused as it is during a mid-coital sex scene where she gets the idea of going from petty cashier theft to robbing banks. Right after, we get a montage that cuts back and forth between Caroline and Oliver on their bank-robbing spree and the two of them getting steamy in beds full of money. Furthermore, the two central performers bring the heat even in moments of them being casual and accustomed to each other thanks to that yearning gaze in each other’s eyes. 

While he shows the same intensity he’s given in roles like Strange Darling, Kyle Gallner proves his range by exuding smooth romantic charm as the unpredictable Oliver, a drifter who aims to rob people blind due to it being a skill set he knows he has rather than a need to get back at a capitalist system. As he says, he always knows the right angle for a good scheme and simply keeps running with it. Impressing in equal measure is Samara Weaving as the titular heroine. As a small-town girl flirting with danger as she yearns to escape her humdrum home life, Weaving gives a performance of seamless star magnetism and vulnerability that molds into hardened strength. Bonus points for Kyra Sedgwick who steals her brief screentime as Caroline’s long-lost booze-stricken mother.

Thanks to their chemistry as simmering as the Southern Sun, Gallner and Weaving are the anchor holding together this engaging old-school road thriller. A film about two young renegade lovers on the run in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde that also possesses a nostalgic aesthetic thanks to the Jonathan Edwards song the film is named after used as a needle drop in addition to the grainy cinematography by DP Jean-Phillippe Brenier that captures the lush landscapes comprised of antiquated buildings. Well-lensed and well-written with two killer central performances, Carolina Caroline is simply a winning thrill ride.

Grade: A-

This review is from the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival where Carolina Caroline had its world premiere. The film is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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Matt St. Clair

Matt is a New England-based freelance journalist who lives and breathes the world of cinema and has been an Oscar watcher since the age of eight. His writing can be found on outlets such as The Film Experience, Roger Ebert, Digital Spy, and Slashfilm. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and a Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association member. You can follow him on Twitter @filmguy619. (He/They)

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