Samara Weaving

Samara Weaving can scream and fight without losing her comic timing. The women she plays in horror can be frightened and resourceful at once, which gives us a reason to stay with them beyond the next assault. Ready or Not (2019) put that mixture at the centre of a film. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are recurring collaborators, though we would be wary of treating horror as the only sensible use of her.

The two useful starting points in 2017 are The Babysitter, with Weaving in the lead as Bee, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, where she plays Penelope. Frances McDormand is the chief reason to see the latter, though the persuasive supporting cast matters to its uneven black comedy. Martin McDonagh's sharp dialogue gives the actors plenty to work with, even as his script hurries us towards sympathy the characters have not earned. Weaving's place in that ensemble is a reminder that she need not carry every film herself.

Babylon (2022), directed by Damien Chazelle, continued the supporting work, but Carolina Caroline (2026) offers the more useful test of what else she can do. Adam Rehmeier pairs her with Kyle Gallner as scammers travelling through the American South. Their affection is the reason to watch, with humour and tenderness doing more for the film than the crimes. We warmed to them because the partnership feels sincere, rather than merely convenient for the plot.

There is a limit to what that partnership can fix. Carolina Caroline follows a familiar lovers-on-the-run story, and its heavier drama is less persuasive than its romance. Our recommendation rests on the two actors, not on any claim that the film has found something new for its criminals to do. For Weaving, that is an encouraging change of emphasis. We would welcome more parts that give her somebody worth talking to before sending her running for her life.