Customer Reviews

Carolina [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Based on quality this movie should have been released in the theater. However, because it is a more "quiet film," the studio was probably worried that it would cost them more to release it in the theater than they would make by just releasing it on DVD. Shirley McClaine and Julia Styles are well known actors, but there have been many romance movies recently of this type, so the studio probably figured these actors alone might not have enough pull to draw in a big crowd. I hope the audience out there proves them wrong because this is a good movie. Regardless of how it might or might not have done in the theater, it is a great renter. Although it is like every other romantic comedy released in the last few years in that one friend is secretly (or not so secretly) lusting after the other, the acting and writing distinguish it from the rest. As Randy Quaid says in the behind the scenes documentary (special features bonus), the movie is "about real people."

Julia Style's character Carolina grew up in a dysfuntional family that would give any "real" family a run for its money in terms of personal problems. For example, one of her sisters thinks she can win the lottery by going into a trance, while riding a rocking horse. Also, at the movie's beginning you find out that Carolina's Dad is an alcoholic who drops each sister off at his mother's doorstop as soon as she is born. Shirley McClaine plays the tough talking, tough love grandma who raised the three sisters to be independent, yet she likes to have them do what she says. Carolina is trying to live a life as far removed from her past as she can get and still keep in touch with her family who she loves. It is the conflict between these two desires that drives her character. Should she be herself, or someone who she thinks other people would like her to be?

The movie seemingly centers on Carolina's quest to find love. She doesn't realize she might already have found it. Her best friend is a writer who lives next door to her. You pick up clues as to how the guy feels about Carolina from the beginning (i.e. his excuses as to why he still lives in an apartment next to hers when he could afford better is pretty transparent). However, the relationship realistically develops over months like a real relationship, instead of being in "movie time." As is usually the case in real life, there are a lot of ups and downs. The plot is well written so that the obstacles to their love are realistic and not just put there to artificially drive the plot.

What sets this movie apart from others of this type, and is arguably the real heart of the movie, is Carolina's connection to her family. Interwoven within the lead characters developing (or not so developing) romantic relationship are the positive and negative events that occur within her family. These events and Carolina's reaction to them influence her character, and therefore the romantic relationship. As she learns about herself with her grandmother's help, she learns more about what will make her happy in a romantic relationship. The fact that Carolina's best friend knows Carolina and her family well enough to go to all the family gatherings provides part of the pretext as to why the movie can focus so much on the family and also helps motivate the plot at times. Luckily, Carolina's relationship with her family enriches the story, rather than detracts from it, which could have easily been the case.

I would recommend this movie to anyone, but I think those who like romantic comedies, and/or tough broads like Shirley McClaine, would find it the most engaging. However, there is a little bit of everything in this movie. The actors, especially Shirly McClaine, give good performances, and the writing is funny and heartwarming without being sickly sweet. Plus, to richen the plot there are also elements of drama and tragey. Therefore, when making the sometimes dificult decision about what movie everyone in your movie-wathcing group will enjoy, you have in this movie a possible solution. You may not rent it more than once, but you will be glad you did the first time around.

I didn't see any reviews or previews for this movie at all. Surprising because it was pretty good. Julia Stiles and Shirley MacLaine work well together as grandmother and granddaughter. It's a touching tale of one dysfunctional family's life. It has it's fun (and touching) moments and I would watch it again.

First off, I would like to say that according to imdb.com, it is said that Kathy Bates was to play the part of the Grandmother in this film...thank god they chose Shirley McLaine for this part, nothing against Ms. Bates and her talents, but after watching this movie, I could not see anyone else playing this part but Ms. MacLaine....
With that said, I have to say that this film is both funny and touching at the same time. It is a movie about two things, finding the right person, and it is about what a family is all about...we all have those family dinners that you want to get up and leave right away as soon as someone opens their mouth...and this is the way that Carolina feels as she totes her date around, trying to impress the family. What she finds later is that no matter who your family is, or where they come from, you love them just the same....a good family picture...should not be missed!!

This feature brings back into focus what most of us seem to
forget : some of the best things in life are right under our noses - we get caught up in looking for the perfect item or dream which clouds the vision to see around us. "Carolina" is
poignant reminder of this fact and because of this, I would recommend this film to anyone that likes to ponder on 'LIFE'S
TURNS'.

The characters are well rounded and likeable. Great writing. There were quite a few scenes that could have been predictable, but were given a fresh perspective. I recommend this movie if you want to watch quality acting and an entertaining storyline.

It was such an honest, heartwarming, and lovely movie. A perfect cast. Shirley MacLaine puts grand in "grandma". It was so interesting to see how the child actress who played the young Carolina (Ambyr Childers) resembled the grown-up Carolina (Julia Stiles). We highly recommend the movie, "Carolina" and much praise to the writer, Katherine Fugate.

"Carolina" is one of those films where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, which is just a way of saying that there are lots of moments in this film that you will like but that overall it might not add up to as much as you would have thought. That would also explain why the film was never released theatrically despite the two stars whose names appear at the top of the credits. Julia Stiles plays the title character who is clearly the only sane one in her family. Carolina is the oldest of three sisters, all of whom were named for the states their father Ted (Randy Quaid) was in when there were born. You have a fifty-fifty shot on which Carolina Carolina was born in, and then there is Georgia (Azura Skye) and Maine (Mike Boorem). You can just imagine their alcoholic father deciding to propagate in states with even more unfeminine names than Maine. Fortunately that did not happen and even more fortunately his second act of fatherhood after naming his daughters is that he dumps them on his mother, known to one and all as Grandma Mirabeau, played to the hilt by Shirley MacLaine.

I always wonder how it is that somebody as sane and level headed as a Carolina can be raised in a family of kooks like the Mirabeaus. Of course, Julia Stiles is a young actress who exudes intelligence and you can well imagine that she might have trouble playing dumb. Carolina has here own problems. She works for one of those television match making shows picking people to put together for dates from video tapes so their is the inevitable irony that she cannot figure out her own love life despite the fact her next door neighbor, Albert (Alessandro Nivola) is obviously smitten with her. He writes romance novels under a female pen name and hires women (Barbara Eden in this case) to play "him" at book signings. Sometimes a smart character being so dumb in the ways of love can be enduring, but in "Carolina" it ends up being a bit maddening. Carolina falls for Englishman Heath Pierson (Edward Atterton), who finds the extended Mirabeau family to be rather overwhelming.

MacLaine takes great relish in getting away with her little speeches and assorted antics, which is why I end up rounding up on this film, and it was nice to see that Jennifer Coolidge, who plays Aunt Marilyn, can play a character and not a caricature (it was rather painful watching her in "A Cinderella Story"). But it is Nivola's Albert who ends up being the most endearing character as he tries to find a way to get Carolina to wake up and notice he is right under her nose. I also liked the way he finally publicly professes his love for her. The other obvious comment is that if Ambyr Childers wants a career playing the younger version of whatever character Julia Stiles is playing, she can have it and the morph early in this film proves. Actually, the most problematic parts of Katherine Fugate's script for me was when it tries to avoid being patently predictable. There is this subplot involving young Maine explicitly based on "The Rockinghorse Winner" that derails in a way that plays with the viewer in a way we can do without and the last obstacle placed between Carolina and living happily ever after seems like it was placed there just to have the requisite obstacle, which made the resolution seem equally forced.

Carolina stars Julia Stiles as a young woman named Carolina who has trouble finding love. Her dilemma is ironically underscored by the fact that she works for a television game show called "The Perfect Match." One day Carolina meets a handsome, rich, available Englishman on the set of the game show and she becomes romantically involved with him. Carolina doesn't notice, however, that her best friend--a handsome, eligible bachelor and her next door neighbor--is jealous of her new relationship. One of the running jokes in the film is that the best friend writes romance novels under a pseudonym--using a woman's name. Only Carolina knows his secret and there are a couple of funny scenes in which people talk to the best friend about his books without knowing that he's the author. Carolina's romance problems are further exacerbated by the existence of her eccentric family. How will her new prim and proper English boyfriend react when he meets Carolina's family?

Shirley MacLaine plays the role of Carolina's grandmother who raised Carolina and her two sisters because their dead-beat, drunkard father was not at all interested in raising them. The grandmother herself is quite a character and has unorthodox child-raising methods. In a scene from Carolina's childhood Carolina is arguing with her sister and the grandmother hands them both butcher knives and sends them out to an alley to fight out their differences. When someone questions the grandmother about her decision, she responds "don't worry, they're not that sharp." Despite the grandmother's unusual childrearing techniques, deep down she loves the kids very much. In general the depiction of Carolina's family is over the top. The butcher knife scene ends with the father showing up in the alley with Carolina's newborn youngest sister in a laundry basket. He leaves the baby on the ground for his mother to find and raise and then he drives off in his pick up truck. This Deus Ex Machina prompts the end of the knife fight, explains the introduction of a new character and demonstrates the incompetence of Carolina's father, but the father comes off as being a pathologically incompetent parent.

The biggest problem with the film Carolina is that it seems to be two different films at the same time--on the one hand it is a romantic comedy about a young woman searching for Mr. Right but overlooks her best friend who is secretly in love with her, on the other hand it is a comedy-drama about a young woman coming to terms with her extremely dysfunctional family. Mixing these two different genres could potentially work; sometimes it works in the film Carolina, sometimes it doesn't. The problem is that romantic comedies generally tend to be light and fun, but some of the dramatic scenes involving Carolina's family are serious and/or depressing--more drama than one would expect from a romantic comedy. Finally, the film has a rather abrupt ending.

This is a flawed film, but it has enough going for it to recommend it. While the combination of two different tones can be jarring at times, I think the film makers deserve credit for trying an unusual combination. However, it probably would have been a better film if they dropped the romantic comedy elements and focused more on the characters in the family. Julia Stiles is a talented actress and she is up for all of the different scenes that the script requires from her; I'm just not sure that the audience will be prepared for all of the drama in this film if the audience is expecting a straight-forward romantic comedy.

This is a hilarious movie, Shirley MacLaine at her best and darling daughters. Julia Stiles was special.

An enjoyable film --- a bit rowdy and brash --- but it was fun watching Shirley MacLaine a bit over the top in the role of the grandmother. An excellent performance by several young actors and actresses, and in particular, Julia Stiles.