Crime romances depend on momentum and chemistry. The best movies in the niche genre make reckless decisions feel thrilling in the moment, even when audiences know everything is probably headed toward disaster. Whether it is Bonnie and Clyde, True Romance, or Natural Born Killers, the appeal usually comes from watching two people become completely consumed by each other while the world around them spirals further out of control.
That energy appears to sit at the center of Carolina Caroline, director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s stylish outlaw romance starring Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner. As part of Collider’s Summer Preview Event, we’re thrilled to exclusively reveal a new image of Weaving from the movie ahead of its upcoming release. The movie follows Caroline, a small-town young woman who falls for Gallner’s charming criminal Oliver and quickly becomes swept into his increasingly dangerous world of scams, romance, and life on the run. Reactions to Carolina Caroline following its premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival have already strongly praised the central performances, with Collider’s reviewfrom Therese Lacson describing Weaving as “effervescent.”
What To Expect From ‘Carolina Caroline’
Carolina Caroline stars Weaving, Gallner, and Kyra Sedgwick in a heightened crime romance that leans heavily into colorful Americana aesthetics and fast-moving outlaw energy. The film centers on Caroline’s growing relationship with Oliver, a seasoned con man who introduces her to a life built around deception, quick escapes, and increasingly risky decisions. Part of what already makes the movie feel especially promising is how committed both leads appear to the movie’s heightened tone and emotional volatility. Speaking to Collider‘s Perri Nemiroff alongside the movie’s TIFF premiere, Rehmeier described just how intense Weaving became while filming one of the movie’s early robbery scenes involving a child actor:
“The first time we did any of the bank-robbing stuff was that scene. The armorer came out, they brought the little girl out, and he’s putting the bullets ridiculously slow into the gun, like just ridiculously slow, and she is just welling up with tears. We roll the first thing, Sam starts screaming, and she just bursts into tears. There’s that part of me that’s just like, ‘We can roll on that. Get that!’ Why waste it at that point, you know?”
The movie also relies on the chemistry between Weaving and Gallner. Gallner, whose collaboration with Rehmeier on Dinner in America became a cult favorite, also spoke to Collider about the freedom the director gives his actors, saying: “Adam has always taken a shot on me, where he will let me do things that most people will not let me do. And so he’s helped me, A., as an actor, get to play these roles, but B., also sort of change the narrative around who I am and how people see me as a performer.”
Carolina Caroline releases in theaters June 5.
via Collider