Carolina is an unusual little
film that was filmed in the summer of 2001 and not released on DVD in the U.S.
until February, 2005. This Miramax picture stars Julia Stiles as Carolina Mirabeau, a young woman who has grown up
under very unusual circumstances. She was raised by her Grandma (Shirley MacLaine), a consistently
coarse, obnoxious personality. Her father Ted (Randy Quaid) is mostly out of the picture. Having provided his
genes for three girls, each named after the state in which they were conceived,
Ted has remained absent, somewhat wild and struggling with alcoholism.
Fewer than ten minutes are spent on Carolina's childhood (in which Ambyr Childers plays young Carolina and Daveigh Chase plays her younger sister Georgia), but they lay the groundwork for the rest of this uneven film. And at the end of the flashback, daddy Ted appears with a third baby, Maine, for Grandma to raise.
Fast-forward fifteen years to the present, and Carolina is grown up and living on her own in Los Angeles, while Maine (Mika Boorem) continues to live with Grandma. Carolina works at a reality matchmaking TV series called The Perfect Date, for which the late Alan Thicke is the host, but the irony of it is she can't seem to find Mr. Right, and even when she does, it doesn’t last longer than three dates.
Carolina’s best friend is Albert Morris (Alessandro Nivola) who lives in the industrial building loft below her. Albert ghost writes romance novels (bodice-rippers) for the fictional Daphne St. Claire, who is played on book signing tours by Barbara Eden (uncredited). Grandma Mirabeau reads Albert’s books religiously, but only Carolina know her friend’s secret. However, Albert has another secret that the viewer realizes from the beginning – he is secretly in love with Carolina but she hasn’t a clue.
Thanksgiving provides an opportunity for Grandma to host her large, quirky, extended family which can charitably be called white trash, including her sister Marilyn (Jennifer Coolidge) who is a madam employing four hookers. Georgia (Azura Skye) tells Carolina she is pregnant from a one-night stand and Carolina convinces her to move in with Grandma. Then, just as Carolina makes the acquaintance of Heath Pierson (Edward Atterton), a charming British contestant on her reality show, she is fired for taking too much time to comfort her pregnant sister over the phone. Oh, yes, and Maine is obsessed with winning the lottery and rides her wooden hobby horse in her bedroom to visualize the winning numbers.
Heath tracks Carolina down and since he seems to be the mature, stable long term relationship she has always wanted, she sleeps with him on their second date. Albert realizes what is happening, but since Carolina has him in the friend zone, the only thing he can do is find a girlfriend of his own so he does, Debbie (the late Lisa Sheridan).
Carolina hosts Christmas dinner at her loft and the whole strange, dysfunctional extended family shows up. Heath arrives late and is understandably shocked by the experience, dumps Carolina and then appears five months later with the lame excuse that he had to return to London to deal with some family affairs.
Though the cast is capable enough, it doesn’t change the fact that Carolina is an uneven and unappealing story. Grandma is a caricature, Carolina and Albert have absolutely no romantic chemistry, and the heat generated by Carolina and Heath, while reminiscent of Julia Stiles and Luke Mably in The Prince and Me, is destined to be short-lived. The DVD's tagline - She met the boy of her dreams... twice - has no relevance to the film, and the DVD cover art makes the film look like something it's not. Carolina never achieves the romantic comedy tone it’s reaching for.
Labels: comedy, drama, Julia Stiles, romance
IMDb 62/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=NA, viewers=70)
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