The story of Jeffrey Manchester is a wild one: a career criminal who gained notoriety for robbing McDonald’s restaurants by carving holes in their rooftops. And after having been caught, his means of evading capture was hiding within a Toys “R” Us store for six months. How exactly does this all play out for a movie? You might only find yourself in for another surprise with Roofman. Directed by Derek Cianfrance of Blue Valentine fame, it may seem like a drastic shift in tone fro his previous works, but he’s also got a lot of heart injected into this film. It’s the sort that an outrageous true story like this would require, especially when given the circumstances of Jeffrey Manchester’s sentencing for his crime versus how he interacted with people around himself.
Starring in the titular role of the Roofman himself is none other than Channing Tatum. A former United States Army Reserve officer, Jeffrey Manchester struggled to maintain a good relationship with his own family due to America’s lack of proper support for war veterans, leading him to take up robbing McDonald’s restaurants. But he didn’t introduce himself as any other robber would, according to the employees of the branches that he targeted: he was notably very polite and cooperative, ensuring that they would still be paid their dues. This extends far past his own arrest, to the time he started living in hiding in a Toys “R” Us store, manipulating employee schedules to his benefit, but also getting attached to another struggling worker, Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst). These experiences would be more than enough for Jeffrey Manchester to want to change his ways, but there’s only so much a man like him can do when he’s a fugitive from the law. Cianfrance knows that these circumstances are unimaginable for any viewer watching this story unfolding; but he hits a very human core at the center of everything, too.
As director Derek Cianfrance moves into the realm of making a crowdpleasing movie for a major studio, Roofman feels more slick in its presentation. Perhaps it doesn’t have those same hard-hitting notes which Blue Valentine or The Place Beyond the Pines had hit, but that’s not a deterrence even for Cianfrance. Most of Roofman is built around Jeffrey Manchester’s view of the world around him, at least now that he’s caught within an ordeal where he’s unable to go public about his own identity otherwise risk being arrested again. He wants to be a good person, because of the love that he has for his own daughter, especially within the opening scenes of the film. But a series of very bad decisions ultimately leaves him in this peculiar situation where he’s left to live in a hollow within a Toys “R” Us store.
Channing Tatum is great in the title role, bringing a great deal of charm to his portrayal of Manchester. He and director Derek Cianfrance reaffirm that despite everything he’s went through, he’s just an ordinary guy making choices that would jeopardize his ability to interact with those he loves. As such, we find ourselves feeling for him when he finds a proper human connection once again coming forth in his relationship with Kirsten Dunst’s Leigh Wainscott and her two daughters. Tatum affirms that there’s a complicated man underneath this exterior where we see someone goofing around inside an empty Toys “R” Us store, making it easier for us to buy into his charms. It’s a very effective performance that allows Channing Tatum to challenge himself as an actor, but also for Cianfrance to examine how America’s treatment of war veterans needs a radical change to keep people like Manchester out of trouble.
Nonetheless, Derek Cianfrance’s creative choices seem to feel very safe. Where a film like Blue Valentine goes to break apart the illusion of a happy marriage with its cross-cutting of happy moments alongside its most difficult, Roofman doesn’t give most people Jeffrey the same of complexity. There’s an exception to the rule with Kirsten Dunst’s Leigh and her own kids, given how crucial a role they have in changing Jeffrey’s habits. Peter Dinklage plays the typical awful boss stereotype we’ve seen in so many other movies, and while he’s funny, he doesn’t have much else to offer. The same can be said for Ben Mendelsohn and Uzo Aduba, who play a couple with Christian values at Leigh’s church. But it feels there’s something missing in the puzzle when Jeffrey’s ex-wife, played by Melonie Diaz, never has enough screentime after his arrest. Granted, she might be completely out of Jeffrey’s life from this point onward, but it’s disappointing enough when her role is nothing more than a stereotype – and thus his relationship with his own daughter takes a backseat. Maybe it might be true these all might have their own separate stories that would add more bloat, but even at two hours, Roofman doesn’t really fill out all these missing pieces.
Despite these qualms, there’s still a lot of fun to be had with Roofman. This story is indeed a ridiculous one, but when you remember that it’s just an ordinary guy trying to make the best of his circumstances, perhaps you might see yourself rooting for him too. But I think there’s a greater movie that could easily have been made out of the way America fails its own war veterans, given Jeffrey Manchester’s background, and even someone like Derek Cianfrance could have touched upon. It wouldn’t have to be made with any drastic changes in tone, let alone presentation, but it would make up for any of the missing pieces to this puzzle surrounding Manchester’s ordeal. It’s obvious that this is Derek Cianfrance moulding himself for big studio sensibilities, but he doesn’t lose his whole self in this picture.
Watch the trailer right here.
All images via Paramount Pictures.
Directed by Derek Cianfrance
Screenplay by Derek Cianfrance, Kirt Gunn
Produced by Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell Taylor, Alex Orlovsky, Duncan Montgomery, Dylan Sellers
Starring Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Aduba, Lily Collias, Jimmy O. Yang, Peter Dinklage
Premiere Date: September 6, 2025 (Toronto)
Running Time: 126 minutes
Cinema from the Spectrum 
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