TIFF 2025: Carolina Caroline Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Previously collaborating on Dinner in America, Kyle Gallner reunites with director Adam Carter Rehmeier for Carolina Caroline, a captivating romantic crime thriller. Iconically viewed as a scream king, position recently reinforced by his performance in the exhilaratingly successful Strange Darling, Gallner is coupled with prominent screen queen Samara Weaving, making for a pair whose romantic chemistry will surely interest audiences familiar with their work in the horror genre. The film follows Caroline (Weaving), a woman hankering to break free from her small town routine, who comes across Oliver (Gallner), a handsome drifter pulling a con at a quaint gas station. Becoming quickly fascinated by his ability to go against the grain so easily, Caroline wants to learn from the suave stranger.

The enchanting chemistry between Weaving and Gallner is truly the essence of Carolina Caroline, as their vivacious flirtation makes their Bonnie & Clyde dynamic into a highly engaging and investing love story. When Weaving is given time to breathe outside of her agonizing screams in horror films, she provides a multifaceted Caroline. Initially naive, Caroline learns quickly from Oliver and uses that act of naivety, along with her cunning talent, to fool victims easily into their manipulative criminal traps. In contrast to his sadistic role in Strange Darling, Gallner bursts through the screen as the smooth-talking Oliver, allowing him to con any situation in his path, while also knowing when to set limits. Meanwhile, the film is cleverly subtle in depicting Oliver’s unwavering love, mixed with Gallner’s unhesitating aptness to depict someone so willing to do anything to protect Caroline that it would never cross his mind to go against her.

Both actors elevate the material with their genuine, playful chemistry amongst their criminal endeavors. Carolina Caroline is no doubt taking significant influence from Bonnie & Clyde and its subsequent iterations. Rehmeier, however, showcases a noteworthy distinction, letting loose for the audiences to enjoy the dynamic alongside an energetic soundtrack, charming montages, and a vaguely modernized setting that is built so precisely with the production design. Undefinable in its precise time period, this favors the film in allowing it to be timeless just as easy as these criminals can fade into the simplicity of town hopping without getting caught. As significant story detours break the pace of the film, these plot deviations help establish Caroline’s purpose in spite of the inevitable hopeless ending that comes with this volatile criminal love story.

Overall, the success of Carolina Caroline hinges on the Bonnie & Clyde dynamic that Weaving and Gallner fit so effortlessly. While narratively predictable, Rehmeier directs this familiar story with enough engaging execution to keep audiences intrigued by this fervent chemistry.

still courtesy of TIFF

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Costa Christoulas

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