This may be shocking to hear, but the entertainment industry in my opinion employs a high number of attractive people. And by my estimation Samara Weaving (AZRAEL) is one of the ones who excel even among that group. Add to that the fact that she came up through horror (Ash vs. Evil Dead, READY OR NOT) and doesn’t seem to have turned her back on it, plus she’s funny and almost always picks movies that seem like something I would watch, whether or not they end up being worthy of her, so she’s a real human being who seems like some nerd could’ve WEIRD SCIENCEd her into reality. Being too good to be true was even part of the premise of THE BABYSITTER, where she exploited the heterosexual vulnerabilities of the teenage protagonist as well as anyone who may or may not be watching at home who is impressed by her BILLY JACK fandom. And now she seems to be on a crime movie kick! Fellas, are we being catfished?

I hope I can confess those feelings without being diminishing of her talents, because she’s also very good at what she does, and her new one CAROLINE CAROLINE is no exception. This is a little different from what we usually see from her, even her last one EENIE MEANIE, because it’s the type of crime movie that wants to be more like BADLANDS than like TRUE ROMANCE. It could exist even if Tarantino had never made a movie. (Not that that would be a fair trade off.)

Weaving stars as Caroline Daniels, a small town Texas girl who works at a gas station. One day she sees a drifter named Oliver (Kyle Gallner, JENNIFER’S BODY, STRANGE DARLING) confuse her boss (Tommy G. Kendrick, MOB LAND) into giving him too much change. When she confronts him outside she’s clearly intrigued by his rebel bad boy mystique, then she runs into him at the bar and continues the conversation, then all the sudden they’re in bed and the next day she decides to hit the road with him. She’s never really left the town and also she wants to track down the mom she never met, who she thinks is in South Carolina. And she wants Oliver to teach her about cons ’n such.

There’s more montages than I care for about this short change trick, living their life nine gas station dollars at a time. That’s if I understand their method correctly, which I probly don’t, but whatever they’re doing it’s mathematically impractical as a regular source of income, which is why he also teaches her pickpocketing. It’s that movie style where it’s basically magic – if you’re good you can bump into someone and instantly teleport their watch or wallet into your hand without them noticing. She builds on that to graduate to bigger scams that are meaner but more entertaining to watch. This poor guy they trick on the train is such an innocent sucker, but they’re having fun getting their Danny Ocean on.

Then Caroline wants to rob banks. Higher yield of both money and adrenaline, I guess. I was a little thrown off by Oliver being her bank robbing coach; it seems like he also has experience in this? Then why the fuck was he doing that dumb change trick? And are there any crimes he doesn’t do? If she wanted to be a hitwoman or a hacker or a safecracker would he show her the ropes there too?

But she’s good at it. She finds it thrilling. She gets on the news in her black wig. It’s pretty easy until the time when the hotel room service guy sees the loot and the disguise and Oliver decides to terrorize him so he won’t snitch. Caroline doesn’t like that. That’s not part of her fantasy.

I enjoyed watching CAROLINA CAROLINE, but found it a little light weight – it starts with red white and blue text and gives us a bunch of Americana signifiers, but all the same ones as in all crime couple road movies: the open road, diners and taverns, southern accents, denim, classic country music. I mean I like Loretta Lynn, so I like that you’re playing it, but also I feel like it’s a bit of a pose. As if these people would never turn on a normal radio station, or encounter a normal jukebox that plays early 2000s bullshit. Usher or Christina Aguilera or whatever. (I actually didn’t realize until the birth years on their fake IDs that it was a period piece. But duh – no cell phones, lots of pay phones.)

I guess that means there’s some stylization going on, but the look and feel is very natural – wide frames, long shots, room to breathe. A familiar type of movie, but an appealing one. The element that did feel original to me is that we kind of assume this is a shitty life she’s trying to run from, but then we meet her dad (Jon Gries, RUNNING SCARED, TAKEN 1, 2 and 3) and it turns out he’s really great and loving and it’s gotta be a bummer for him that she’s leaving all the sudden. But he understands that there’s a whole world out there for her, and more to aspire to than working at a gas station.

The other surprise is that ultimately Oliver (spoiler) doesn’t turn out to have the dark side you would expect, other than being willing to cross lines she wouldn’t when they get cornered. He doesn’t turn out to have misrepresented himself at all, he doesn’t get abusive or even go too far. So it’s pretty novel and even wholesome as far as doomed romances go. (I guess you could say the same of TRUE ROMANCE, but that’s a nerd wish fulfillment story from a male point of view, while this takes the woman’s perspective, so we have reason to expect Oliver to let her down more than he does.)

So that’s what works best is the straight forward love story between these two, because they have the charisma to pull it off. No surprise with Weaving, but I do think it’s a new achievement unlocked for Gallner. I’ve enjoyed him playing weirdos, but here he’s exuding handsome and calming Caroline with his eyes, steady voice and assuring words. He’s a traditional type of masculine that would be non-toxic if not for his profession. It does not feel like a critique, deconstruction or expose of his manliness, but maybe in the end it is. (Spoilers ahead.) He gets to live by his code and die by his idea of gallantry, leaving her with no choice but to mourn and run and abandon her father, the only other person in her life. But at least she doesn’t have to work at the gas station. I guess she made her choice.

The other standout part is what happens when she finds her mom. It’s an against type performance from a well known actress (she’s in the credits so I guess it’s not really a spoiler that it’s Kyra Sedgwick [VILLAINS]). It’s such a human moment, and the part of the movie that feels unlike what I’ve seen in other movies of this genre. So it’s the part that will stick with me. It kinda feels like in a TV series when there’s one episode that takes on a different format and everybody remembers it as the best episode.

CAROLINA CAROLINE is directed by Adam Rehmeier, director of two movies I’ve heard are good but have not seen (DINNER IN AMERICA and SNACK SHACK). He usually writes his own movies, but this was a script that came to him, written by newcomer Tom Dean. I saw it in a theater but the release seems to be pretty limited, and it just hit VOD today.