Roofman ★★★

Roofman, directed by Derek Cianfrance, comes armed with a wild and wacky true story of a man named Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum). After his discharge from the United States Army Reserve, Jeffrey struggled to make ends meet. Rather than being able to give his daughter the bike she dreamed of for her birthday, all he can afford to give her is a toy set that he once played with as a boy. He feels inadequate and is estranged from his first wife, given only brief time to spend with his daughter, though he does make the most of it as he is an attentive and affectionate father. Determined to find a way to provide the life he wants to give his daughter, he turns to the only avenue he sees: crime. This is where the story gets naturally unusual and funny with Jeffrey’s target being McDonald’s restaurants where he climbs through the roof and, as shown in an opening heist, is so remarkably kind to the store employees that all they can speak about is how Jeffrey gave a manager the jacket off his own back. The fact he did so because he was forcing everyone into the freezer at gunpoint is forgotten.

Once he is caught and quickly breaks out of prison, Roofman emphasizes Jeffrey’s genius and, as his friend Steve (LaKeith Stanfield) calls it, his “superpower”: his remarkable attention to detail. He “notices things” as Steve says, possessing a knack for picking up all patterns, things out of place, and even weaknesses and inclinations in other people to know precisely how to get what he wants. He is cunning and brilliant, but as Steve also says, he is an idiot when it comes to being a criminal. Part of it is the being too nice to actually be a hardened robber, part of it is that as good as he is at detecting patterns, he cannot help but be himself and fall victim to poor execution of his plans and forming attachments in situations where he cannot form attachments. This is, as one might expect, his downfall in the end as once he breaks out of prison, he hides in the only spot he can find: Toys “R” Us. He knows nobody will look there and he even hides basically in plain sight, behind a huge display of bikes for sale that leaves just enough room for him to drop a bed and a few other items in there without being in range of the store’s cameras (though he soon sorts out that problem by turning off their recording feature). Though the store is busy in the day, he stays quiet and listens to the drama of the store’s employees, especially the rude and domineering boss Mitch (Peter Dinklage) and the kind, recently divorced and single mother Leigh (Kirsten Dunst). Jeffrey cannot help but intervene on her behalf, even stealing toys to donate to a toy drive Leigh and her church are holding, which soon enough opens doors for him to spend time dating Leigh and forming bonds with her daughters. Even though he knows the risk of venturing out of his hiding spot and even though he knows Steve is working on an exit plan for him, Jeffrey cannot help himself but to fall for Leigh, her daughters, and this idyllic family life they create in a few short months.

However, as Jeffrey says in the opening narration, he “made choices that prevented him from making other choices.” As in Cianfrance’s excellent The Place Beyond the Pines where he follows Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a father who tries to provide for his family through crime, this life of Jeffrey’s is fatalistic and all attachments are doomed to end up in distance, longing, and heartbreak. He is smart, but dumb at the same time, his own worst enemy in delivering to himself and those he loves the life that he wants. Roofman can be funny. After all, a super kind robber and a guy who spends his nights recreating Risky Business in an empty Toys “R” Us is funny. But, this is a heavy and poignant film, one that examines the tragic nature of a man like Jeffrey. Never content, always feeling inadequate, and always certain he needs to buy the affection and attention of others with lavish gifts, he pigeonholes himself into this life. It is hard not to feel some kind of empathy with Jeffrey, this troubled man who could have done so much with his life and who is so warm and kind with those he loves that one can see he is a great father whenever he is present. However, his decision making and lifestyle choices leave him a troubled and contemptible figure, a man who gives so freely of himself but only knows how to do anything through violence and theft. One cannot help but mourn the lost potential, emphasized in a rather poetic shot of a balloon that Jeffrey bought for Christmas floating away into the air after he is caught. He is warm and kind. He longs for a family life. But, he also robs stores at gunpoint and, if he feels pressed to do so, will harm those who stand in his way while also consistently imperiling the lives of those he loves with his actions. It is easy to see who Jeffrey could be if he made better choices, instead we are left with this tragic and stirring portrait of a modern man doomed to deny himself and everyone around him any chance at happiness.

Channing Tatum is terrific in this role, possessing more than enough charisma to draw the audience onto Jeffrey’s side. He has a natural comedic energy that lends itself to Roofman’s lighter moments, as well as Jeffrey’s more tender qualities. This is a man one wants to root for, but Tatum’s performance also captures enough of the gray area, the darkness looming within him, and the conflict that exists in his soul between what he wants to do to succeed as a family man and what he needs to do to succeed as a criminal, that he really lays bare what makes Jeffrey Manchester tick. This is a very smart and calculated performance, possessing enough charm to pull the wool over one’s eyes, but enough sadness behind Tatum’s eyes to see the broken man lurking within. Kirsten Dunst is strong as Leigh, a woman who genuinely loves Jeffrey and how he treats her daughters, but is put into a horrible position. She and Tatum have wonderful chemistry, leading one to root for these two to figure out their relationship even as one knows it is fated to end in disaster and heartbreak. Dunst’s scene in a car on Christmas is fantastic, so expressive and powerful. One feels the mixture of emotions and the immense sense of loss and guilt Leigh feels purely by looking into Dunst’s face and eyes. LaKeith Stanfield’s cold and calculating ex-Army buddy, Ben Mendelsohn and Uzo Aduba as the pastor and pastor’s wife of Leigh’s Church, Dinklage as that inconsiderate store manager, and Emory Cohen as a young Toys “R” Us employee who needs to learn to speak up for himself, all add color and life to Roofman. This ensemble cast is impressive across the board and really invites the audience into the world that Jeffrey inhabited while hiding out after his prison break.

Roofman is a funny story at times, but it is also a tragic and heartbreaking one. Though possessing a lot more lightness than Cianfrance’s prior look at relationships in Blue Valentine or his look at generational trauma and the struggle to provide in The Place Beyond the Pines, it still comes to the same heavy conclusions about one’s inability to outrun their fate, decisions, and actions. Though never reaching the heights of those other films from Cianfrance, Roofman is able to breathe life into a familiar true crime story setup with its strong performances and its nuanced and understanding character study.