(Image credit: Magnolia Pictures)
Tom's Guide Verdict: 'Carolina Caroline'Rating: 3.5/5 starsVerdict: It's nice to see Samara Weaving in something other than a horror movie, because she shows off some range in "Carolina Caroline." The movie starts as a whirlwind romance but quickly turns into its own version of Bonnie and Clyde. Once the romance drama becomes a crime thriller, it grips you and doesn't let go until the very end. Where to watch: See "Carolina Caroline" in theaters nowWhen you think of the biggest summer movies to watch this year, you're probably not thinking of "Carolina Caroline." It's no blockbuster. It's a low-budget indie crime thriller that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and is finally getting released in U.S. theaters this week. Chances are you haven't even heard of it, let alone considering seeing it at your local cinema.But you should definitely put this movie on your radar, especially if you love a crime movie that grabs your attention and doesn't let go. Admittedly, this one is a slow burn at first. It really feels like a romance movie for the first 30 minutes or so, and you start to question what the point of the movie even is. After the half-hour mark, though, you quickly learn that the point of the movie is simple: rob banks until you get caught.Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022. He watches dozens of new releases every year to make sure you don't have to watch any of the bad ones.'Carolina Caroline' starts slow then doesn't let go"Carolina Caroline" stars Samara Weaving as the titular Caroline, a gas station attendant in middle-of-nowhere Texas. She's never made it out of her hometown; she's never envisioned making it anywhere besides Texas and South Carolina. But that all changes when she meets Oliver (Kyle Gallner), a con man who she watches pull a short-change scam on her boss.She's enthralled by the con and the promise of something more that Oliver's arrival brings. But for the first act of the movie, all we get is a whirlwind romance between an infatuated woman and a man who isn't going to say no when Samara Weaving comes onto him. It's during this act of the story that we also learn Caroline and her father (Jon Gries) were abandoned by her mother (Kyra Sedgwick) when Caroline was an infant.Seeing a way to maybe get to her mother, who is in South Carolina, Caroline tells Oliver she wants to pull cons. That forms a budding Bonnie and Clyde dynamic, which escalates quickly once Caroline decides she's done robbing people and instead wants to rob banks.At this point, the movie shifts gears. The pace quickens, the tone takes on some urgency. After a robbery goes wrong, the movie even switches from its Americana soundtrack to a tense, thrilling original score for the duration of the couple's escape from the police. From the moment that the criminal element comes into this movie, and characters stop seductively stripping down to their underwear in front of a car's headlights, this movie grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end.Verdict: I want to see more of this from Samara Weaving
