“What if I made different choices… would I have ended up here?”
Where one might have expected it to become yet another high-octane action blockbuster, Roofman instead takes the route of an understated dramedy, spending more time on Jeffrey’s personal life than on the crimes he commits.
Written by Andie Kaiser
What do you do with a true-crime story that’s undeniably funny? Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman offers an answer to this question, telling the story of the real-life “Roofman,” otherwise known as Jeffrey Manchester. Manchester was known for stealing from McDonald’s locations by entering through—you guessed it— the roof. He also managed to avoid police capture by living in a Toys “R” Us store for six months. Both of these facts make him a fascinating figure, and the film uses them to craft its basic premise, with Channing Tatum stepping into the role of Manchester.
Tatum’s Manchester is charmingly complex. Much of the beginning of the film focuses on his relationship with his young daughter, and the struggle he feels at not being able to provide for her in the way he longs to. As an audience member, you can tell that he would do anything for her. And so when he starts stealing, you can’t help but understand why. When he finds himself in jail for the first time, it’s heartbreaking.
But of course, he manages to escape. The film, through the accounts of Jeffrey and others, and through the use of classic heist-style montages, lets us know that Jeffrey is incredibly smart. In voiceover narration, we hear him talk about his ability to pick up on the minute patterns and details around him (take, for example, the way shipments move in and out of the prison, or the dimensions of a shipment truck’s underbelly), and with these skills, he soon finds himself back in the outside world. The only thing Jeffrey wants is to see his kids again, but he knows the risk is too dangerous. And so, with nowhere to go, the Toys “R” Us enters the picture.
It’s here that Jeffrey first sees Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), albeit over the security footage that he watches from the safety of his hiding place behind the bike display. Dunst, as expected, delivers a standout performance as Leigh, an overworked store employee and single mom. When she and Jeffrey finally meet each other (outside of the Toys “R” Us, at a church fundraiser event), their chemistry is immediately palpable. Dunst matches Tatum’s sense of playfulness with ease, yet always maintains the serious nature that underlies their budding relationship. She, along with her daughters, represents a new life for Jeffrey, and we can feel how desperately he wants a family again. But at the same time, he knows that opening up too much could be a one-way ticket back to prison.
LaKeith Stanfield also provides a great performance as Steve, Jeffrey’s best friend from the military, and the only one who knows the truth about his situation. He worries about his friend and doesn’t hesitate to tell him when he’s being stupid, but ultimately, he doesn’t judge Jeffrey. In this way, his character might have a perspective most similar to the audience’s.
Like many others have said, this feels like the kind of film that we just don’t get anymore—at least not through wide-scale theatrical releases. Where one might have expected it to become yet another high-octane action blockbuster, Roofman instead takes the route of an understated dramedy, spending more time on Jeffrey’s personal life than on the crimes he commits. And yet it manages to avoid another potential pitfall here, which is that the focus on family and community could easily turn the film into an overly sentimental or obviously contrived story. Even the mellow, piano-led score feels somehow nostalgic, as though it had managed to drift from a family drama into an R-rated release. And maybe that whole phenomenon— the brutal reality of prison versus the fantasy of a toy store, the mixing of crime with father-daughter playdates— is at the heart of what the film represents.
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