Might I please call your attention to a director named Adam Rehmeier? You probably don’t know who he is, and likely haven’t seen any of his movies.
Well, he’s pretty damned good, and his latest, Carolina Caroline, continues his streak of winners that includes the highly enjoyable Snack Shack (2024) and the great Dinner in America (2020).
Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner (who also starred in Dinner in America) play Caroline and Oliver, a new couple that has a penchant for conning people. That penchant grows to obsession as they progress from ripping off convenience stores to becoming bank robbers.
Carolina Caroline isn’t the most original movie. It shares a lot of plot points with the likes of Bonnie and Clyde and Hell or High Water. What distinguishes the film is the bona fide chemistry of its two leads, and the breathless directorial style of Rehmeier.
This is a true star vehicle for Weaving, who has some of her best acting moments yet in this movie, especially in a barnburner scene she shares with Kyra Sedgwick. Gallner is one of those actors you have seen a bunch of times before, but you probably don’t know his name. He also does career-best work as a hardened criminal you can’t help but like—until he truly screws up.
Weaving is having a busy year. She recently starred in the dark comedy Over Your Dead Body with Jason Segel, and she had some fun in the serviceable sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. She gets better with every movie.
As for Rehmeier, he’s still looking for his breakthrough. This one had a very limited theatrical release before getting sent to streaming. He’s the sort of director who would’ve exploded on the scene 30 years ago, but his work is getting buried by modern-day studios who don’t know how to market him.
He’s going to break through one of these days. He’s too good to go unnoticed.