Anchored by two terrific leads, Carolina Caroline presents a familiar scenario in its own compelling manner. Samara Weaving stars as Caroline, whose small-town Texas life is uprooted when she meets Oliver (Kyle Gallner), a con man and thief that she clocks pulling a fast one on her boss at a gas station convenience store. Drawn to this charismatic stranger, Caroline ends up leaving town with him, asking him to teach her his criminal ways as they embark on a whirlwind romance together.

From Bonnie and Clyde to Badlands to Natural Born Killers, there have been plenty of movies featuring a criminal couple meeting and setting out on their dangerous path. But Carolina Caroline once more proves it’s not always about telling a brand new story as much as telling your version of any story well. Writer Tom Dean and director Adam Carter Rehmeier create an inviting, believable world, drawing you into Caroline and Oliver’s journey.

Unlike some of those aforementioned films, Oliver is not a casually murderous psychopath, but a more pragmatic “this is just how the world works” guy. And while there certainly is an element of exciting danger to his line of work that Caroline is drawn to, the film doesn’t play it like she’s out of control once they set out together. Instead, they are both incredibly lovesick and putting up a facade of blissful ignorance to the potential ramifications of what they’re doing, which escalates from small time cons and wallet snatching to armed bank robbery.

This is all incredibly well played by Weaving and Gallner, two actors who have both managed to build up well-earned credibility that adds cool points to any movie they’re in, thanks to their always strong performances in offbeat and cult-ready films through the years. They’re extremely charismatic and sexy together, very much selling you on the connection Caroline and Oliver quickly form.

Though the film doesn’t give you a lot of specifics on Oliver’s backstory, Gallner expertly conveys the feeling of a guy who’s gone through a lot and has a rather world-weary, old soul perspective on life, and is hiding some sadness behind his friendly demeanor. Weaving, in the middle of a notably busy run of movies — this is her third new release since March — gives her most emotionally vulnerable performance to date, and it really stands out to see her play something this open and raw right after her wickedly funny turn in April’s Over Your Dead Body.

Any film of this sort is all about waiting for the other shoe to drop when things inevitably go wrong pulling off a crime and our protagonists are now in big trouble. And yes, this is the path Carolina Caroline inevitably takes, but Dean and Rehmeier’s approach is very impressive. There is tension and excitement to be sure, but the film stays notably grounded and character-based in a highly effective manner. Ultimately, the portrayal here is much more genuinely moving than some other “sexy criminal couple” movies because you are able to truly invest in the two main characters so much and care about what happens to them.

There are a couple moments in Carolina Caroline that don’t quite work or feel too on-the-nose, including an encounter Caroline has with her absentee mother that feels a bit overly arch and intense despite strong work by the always-great Kyra Sedgwick. As a counterpoint, though, the portrayal of Caroline’s father by Jon Gries, who easily sells you on his character’s warmth and sweetness, shrewdly goes against the grain with the type of parent a girl like Caroline is usually trying to get away from in movies of this sort.

Though set vaguely in the 1970s, Carolina Caroline avoids any overt or distracting “look at how different things were” inclusions or fashion choices beyond a couple of necessary era-appropriate elements like the use of payphones. It all helps to create a certain timeless “this could have happened at any time anywhere” feel.