Hot stars add heat to ‘Carolina Caroline’
Novelty is at a premium in the romantic crime drama “Carolina Caroline,” an alluring, ultimately pale imitation of Terrance Malick’s “Badlands.” Everything about it feels recycled and preordained. You correctly sense impending doom from the first moment the naive West Texas bumpkin Caroline makes eye contact with the dangerously charismatic Oliver. Theirs is a story arc so familiar it practically writes itself. Yet, it possesses an undeniable je ne sais quoi.
Might the source of that elan rest in the megawatt starpower of Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner, actors capable of negotiating a road movie so rife with plot holes and potholes that it threatens to damage the suspension of disbelief? Or could it be the spiffy direction, courtesy of Adam Carter Rehmeier, instilling a visual style that favorably recalls dusty cross-country classics such as “Two Lane Blacktop,” “Easy Rider,” and “Vanishing Point,” in which folk-heroish lawbreakers epitomize Americana? A little of both?
What it’s not is well-written. Tom Dean’s script consistently favors clichés over grassroots character development. His thinly drawn antiheroes are types, not flesh-and-blood people. Gallner’s Oliver is the restless James Dean sort who values his rootless autonomy, while Weaving’s Caroline is the ennui-filled dreamer longing to reconnect with the mother who abandoned her at birth. Together, they travel the South in a vintage 1970 Chevelle SS396 that on today’s market would sell for more than “Carolina Caroline’s” entire budget. Certainly a set of wheels far beyond the means of a two-bit drifter like Oliver.
But then I bought one just like it, jade instead of Oliver’s cobalt, for $1,100 in 1973, and since “Carolina Caroline” is set sometime in the early 1990s, I suppose I might be nitpicking. But a distraction just the same. Ditto for Caroline’s dad (Jon Gries), and the casualness in allowing his young, vulnerable daughter to hit the road with a virtual stranger. Heck, we don’t even see Dad being formally introduced to Caroline’s oily beau.
Again, the urge to resist is futile, as we breathlessly observe the two lovers evolve from charming grifters to pistol-packing bank robbers, who, according to the TV news, are spreading “terror” across Texas, Arkansas and, of course, the Carolinas. It’s a part of the country that’s new for my fellow Nebraskan, Rehmeier, who has gained a sliver of acclaim for directing the modest cult hits “Dinner in America” and “Snack Shack.” This is also the first time he’s working from a script that’s not his own. And like I said, Dean doesn’t provide him much of a framework.
There’s little depth to it. It’s neither risky nor compelling, at least not to the level you’d expect from a couple seeking to emulate Bonnie and Clyde. Where’s the drama? Where’s the suspense? About as close as it comes is when Caroline finds herself face to face with her drunken, lush of a mother, well played by Kyra Sedgwick. Surprise! Mom isn’t the cookie-baking nurturer Caroline was expecting. Who would have guessed?
The tone is also a tad problematic, jarringly shifting from a light, carefree forbidden romance into a pair of murderers on the lam. It’s an inorganic progression that’s out of character for the Oliver and Caroline we’ve come to know and marginally like. One can only imagine how much more startling the shift might have been if the roles weren’t portrayed by actors as compelling as Weaving and Gallner. Both are smoldering in what could prove to be their breakout roles.
We’ve noted Gallner’s considerable sex appeal before in the infinitely better cult classic “Strange Darling,” but Weaving (daughter of Hugo Weaving from “LOTR” fame) is a revelation. She convincingly transforms Caroline from straw-chomping hick to sophisticated felon. And doing it without ever compromising Caroline’s abundant empathy and compassion for the 99 percent. True, the chemistry between her and Gallner could be stronger, but it’s far from a dealbreaker.
No, the movie’s Achilles is Dean’s inability to dig deep into the psyches of young lovers caught in a deadly trap of their own making. As is, there are never any real consequences beyond the inevitable. Yes, Caroline meets her mother, but Dean diminishes the stakes by brushing over its aftermath. The encounter is devastating for Caroline, but once ended, it’s nary mentioned again.
It’s that sort of absence of detail that leaves you convinced “Carolina Caroline” could have been so much better. As is, it’s OK, propped up by the performances, the set decoration and a perfectly curated soundtrack full of Americana gems courtesy of Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, whose mournful cover of Springsteen’s “My Father’s House” perfectly encapsulates the story’s themes of false illusions and paralyzing disappointment. The bones are certainly here, but there’s not nearly enough meat on them for a minor crash and grab like “Carolina Caroline” to merit a clean getaway.
Movie review
Carolina Caroline
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Kyra Sedgwick and Jon Gries
Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier
Writer: Tom Dean
Runtime: 105 minutes
Where: In theaters June 5 (limited)
Grade: B-
