Roofman movie review: Channing Tatum brings compassion to real-life crime caper

If you didn’t know Roofman was based on a true story, you would never have believed it was.

There are so many elements to its story that, surely, would not have happened. And yet they did, mostly anyway.

The drama-comedy-caper makes excellent use of Channing Tatum, who’s fantastic and emotionally affecting as Jeffrey Manchester, a former army veteran who, around the turn of the millennium, earnt himself the nickname of “Roofman”.

It comes from a string – and by string, it’s dozens – of robberies in which he gained entrance to mostly McDonald’s by breaking in through the roof, and then laying in wait until the early shift staff turn up. He then, very politely, shuffles them into the walk-in fridge and rob the joint.

Jeffrey was eventually caught and sent to prison for 45 years. But he was too smart, and too observant. His brain, we’re told, works differently to everyone else, he notices what others don’t, sees patterns and knows exactly what to do with that information.

He breaks out of prison, fairly effortlessly, it seems, and ends up hiding out in a Toys R Us for months. All this actually happened.

It’s amazing that Roofman is able to take this story of a confessed criminal and make him incredibly easy to empathise with. He invites compassion because he gives compassion back to the world, and that is in no small part due to Tatum’s performance.

In Tatum’s portrayal, Jeffrey is soft-spoken, considerate and seems to genuinely care about treating people well. It’s what makes him a worthy subject of not just the story, but of the other dramatic thrust of Roofman – the romance between Jeffrey and a single mother who works at the store, Leigh (Kirsten Dunst).

There’s a level of deception from Jeffrey in order to keep up pretences with Leigh, and if you laid out the facts straight, it’s red flags all around. There is easily a version of this story that ends up being a sensationalist true crime miniseries scored to ominous music with a severe, dark tone.

But in the hands of writer and director Derek Cianfrance, Roofman is not that story. It’s a film with levity, with heart and packed with genuine moments in which you’re firmly on Jeffrey’s side.

It’s not just that he’s smart, and therefore his exploits in hiding his presence in the Toys R Us are legitimately entertaining, it’s that there are no real villains in Roofman.

Cianfrance presents it almost as a slice-of-life story about working class Americans just trying to get by, despite the extraordinary details of the tale.

The filmmaker clearly has an interest in telling the stories of outsiders, as we’ve gleaned from his most prominent previous work including Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, and how the concept of family and care extends beyond a nuclear ideal.

When Jeffrey is sent to prison, his ex-wife cuts off contact between him and his young daughter, and we can see one of the reasons for his connection to Leigh is because he becomes a surrogate for her girls.

This is a character with an abundance of love to give, even though he absolutely has made bad choices, and repeatedly. Evoking an audience’s forgiveness and understanding is not easy.

It’s Cianfrance’s ability to explore the multiplicities in a person, all the good, the bad and the spaces in between, that makes his films such wonderful and complex little gems.

Rating: 3.5/5

Roofman is in cinemas