Darn that Channing Tatum. He’s just so charming which makes him the perfect actor to portray Jeffrey Manchester, aka the Roofman. I had never even heard of this true story from the late ‘90s to early 2000’s of which this movie is based. It’s definitely a case of truth being stranger than fiction.
Manchester once served as an Army Ranger but after that life was through, he sort of lost his way. He couldn’t hold down a job, got divorced and eventually turned to a life of crime. He got the nickname, “Roofman” because of his unique way of breaking into various McDonald’s restaurants – through the roof. It is estimated that he broke into anywhere between 40 and 60 different fast foot break-ins across the country. He often locked McDonald’s employees in walk-in coolers, but was incredibly kind and polite while doing so.
I’m not giving anything away here. This is all talked about during the first five minutes of the movie. And despite the name, the majority of Roofman takes place after dropping in at McD’s. Jeffrey is about as smart as he is dumb. Smart because he’s able to see things that other people can’t and figure out solutions to his crazy problems. But he’s also dumb in that he always takes incredible chances.
Eventually, the Roofman’s antics lead him into taking up residence within a North Carolina Toys “R” Us without anyone ever knowing about it. He even dates one of the store’s employees, Leigh Weainscott (Kirsten Dunst). This single mom of two is also pretty charming too.
Jeff (Channing Tatum) and Mitch (Peter Dinklage) (Paramount Pictures)
When Jeff and Leigh meet, he introduces himself as John Zorn and uses some of his real military background to use as a backstory about his current “top secret” job with the government. Soon, he’s attending church becoming friends with the Pastor and his wife (Ben Mendelsohn and Uzo Aduba) and moving a little too quickly with the budding romance.
Channing holds most of the weight of the film as he is in nearly every scene in the movie. When he’s not dating Leigh or trying to win over her daughters; teenage Lindsay (Lily Collias) and younger sister Dee (Kennedy Moyer); he’s seen running around the toy store like a kid with a lot of energy but no friends. He has a lot of time on his hands to evaluate the bad things and mistakes that he’s done in his life but he’s never strong enough to stop making them. Some of these scenes are surprisingly emotional while others are done with slapstick silliness. The movie never veers too close to either side of the pendulum.
Peter Dinklage plays Mitch, the jerky general manager of the Toys “R” Us. He doesn’t honor Leigh’s requests for every other weekend off so she can be with her kids and belittles Otis (Emory Cohen) for eating bags of missing M&M’s, but unknown to him, Jeff has set up hidden cameras in his office enjoying his own private soap opera in his hiding place.
Roofman rounds out the cast with other characters that make this movie fun to watch. Molly Price plays Officer Scheimreif who is always hot on Jeffrey’s trail. Jimmy O. Yang plays a used car salesman. LaKeith Stanfield plays Steve, Jeff’s bad news friend and Juno Temple as his girlfriend.
As a romantic/comedy/drama, Roofman is definitely a lighter fare for director Derek Cianfrance. He successfully tells this unbelievable story in a way that mostly feels believable. Sure, there are plenty of hijinks, but there is real heart to the story as well. A few storyline choices, based on actual real events, might have been scrubbed if this movie was directed by someone else. With that said, this isn’t a perfect film. Some characters are played a little too broadly or unauthentically. All in all, though, this is (mostly) a feel-good movie. One where you won’t like what this guy has done, but you’ll be glad to have gotten to know him a little bit.
The movie ends with credits that feature interviews with the real Leigh, her Pastor, Officer Scheimreif and others along with photos of the real Jeff and the actor who plays him.
Main Image: Paramount Pictures
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