Joyce Glasser reviews Roofman (October 17, 2025) cert 15, 126 minutes
Roofman, named after the manner in which professional, gentleman burglar Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) enters his targeted premises, is proof that truth is stranger than fiction. If it were not for the opening, emphatic “this is a true story” you wouldn’t believe any of director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance’s wacky tall tale.
It’s easy to see Cianfrance’s attraction to this all American caper. It’s a true story that has everything in it, including a man-on-the-run premise and the humour absent from Cianfrance’s The House Beyond the Pines, Blue Valentine and The Light Between the Oceans.
Then there’s Channing Tatum who, as the US Army veteran turned burglar Jeffrey Manchester is inspired casting. He has a natural, if by no means obvious chemistry with Kirsten Dunst as Leigh Wainscott, a Church going, responsible, law abiding retail worker at Toys R Us who has hardened her defensive heart to love.
In a first person narration Jeffrey tells us that after his army discharge he made some bad choices and struggles to support or impress his family. Jeffrey turns to his savvy but unscrupulous former army pal Steve (LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah) who recognises the underachiever in his friend. ‘You see things that other people don’t,’ Steve points out. ‘If I had a brain like yours I’d be running the world.’
For a while it feels Jeffrey is on his way. He turns to crime – always courteous to his victims and concerned about their comfort. For a while, the family is thriving.
When the police come knocking it’s the end of his first family, but the beginning of another, just within his reach. Using those brains, Jeffrey stages an ingenious prison escape and hides in plain sight in a North Carolina Toys R Us superstore: recreated by production designer Inbal Weinberg and the film’s creative set and art departments.
Jeffrey quickly learns how the store is run, where the security cameras are, where he can hide undetected and how to put to good use the toys and other items on sale.
While early on Jeffrey ruins his teeth surviving on the store’s candy display, in time he dares to go out into the community, helping himself to a store bicycle. The outing is motivated by his attraction to store employee Leigh (Dunst) and by the mean-spirited store manager Mitch (a superb turn from Peter Dinklage, having a blast) who refuses to donate toys to her Church’s charity night.
With his brain now working in overdrive, Jeffrey changes the shift times to accommodate Leigh, disables the CCTV, connects a portable television monitor to his makeshift bedroom, and rigs a surveillance kit on site so he can see into Mitch’s office and hear his conversations. This, the lax security and careful timing give Jeffrey more freedom.
One day he cycles to the Church with a bunch of stolen toys, naturally impressing the paster (Ben Mendelsohn) who becomes a staunch supporter, and Leigh.
Jeffrey also pawns toys to raise cash for the dentist and clothes for his first date with Leigh, who dares to hope again. It’s here you might wonder why tightwad Mitch does not hold the staff responsible for the surge in theft or install more cameras sooner than he is ultimately forced to do after a tense, chaotic encounter with the prowler.
Charming, witty, handsome, fit and mysterious (think of a Magic Mike male stripper out of context) Jeffrey has the Church community wrapped around his finger. He has to try harder with Leigh’s two teenage daughters, taking a big risk to win over the highly suspicious eldest (Lily Colias).
While Cianfrance spends a lot of time shooting Tatum on the shop floor where we laugh as Jeffrey cycles or roller skates around in various states of undress or fancy dress, exploring the product range, the comic elements are always overshadowed by the precarious nature of his charade and the ominous cloud over Jeffrey’s life.
You wish that, as in Catch Me if You Can, Spielberg’s adaptation of a more dubious real life caper story, some law enforcement chief would make use of Jeffrey’s talents and cut him a deal.
While the entire supporting cast are top notch, this is Tatum’s film. He has shown us physical strength coupled with vulnerability (the Magic Mike films), an action man with comic flair (21 and 22 Jump Street) and physicality (Step-Up, Magic Mike) and here, he has us rooting for him while aware that he’s a tragic anti-hero.
