Carolina Caroline

Directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier, Carolina Caroline follows a small-town girl (Samara Weaving’s Caroline) as she gets caught up in criminal endeavors after falling for Kyle Gallner’s Oliver. It’s exceedingly and almost unreasonably familiar subject matter that’s employed to decent (if unspectacular) effect by Rehmeier, as the filmmaker, armed with Tom Dean’s screenplay, delivers a slow-moving drama that receives plenty of mileage out of its first-class performances – with both Weaving and Gallner offering up electrifying work that’s heightened by their palpable chemistry together. (The film’s MVP, however, is Kyra Sedgwick, whose one-scene appearance is nothing short of spellbinding.) And while Rehmeier does a nice job of peppering the proceedings with compelling digressions and set-pieces, including Caroline and Oliver’s tense encounter with a hotel bellboy, Carolina Caroline’s lack of narrative curveballs (ie the whole thing unfolds exactly as one might’ve anticipated) ultimately prevents it from packing the visceral, emotional punch Rehmeier has intended.

**1/2 out of ****