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Roofman Follows the Human Drama Behind a Harebrained True Story

It’s hard not to look at Roofman as a goofy comedy -especially with the way it has been marketed to emphasize the silliness in the concept of a man living in a Toys “R” Us. Indistinguishable from a 90s or early 2000s David Spade or Rob Schneider vehicle honestly. And then you get to the movie and maybe remember that it is written and directed by Derek Cianfrance and after not too long find it is a more substantial and emotionally involved film than expected, one that takes the bizarre novelty of its premise and uses that ultimately as  the mere backdrop for a seriously considered human drama.
That is fitting because it actually was. A spree robber called the Roofman -real name Jeffrey Manchester- actually did live secretly out of a Toys “R” Us store for six months in 2004 while a fugitive from justice. A former reservist marine, he’d actually gotten his name from a series of dozens of McDonald’s robberies across the country that he carried out by drilling through the roofs of the stores and at gunpoint holding up the early morning employees while emptying the registers. Eventually in North Carolina he was caught and imprisoned, but after just a few years he managed to escape in an incredibly clever way, and wound up in Charlotte where he took up his residence in the Toys “R” Us.
These are the basic facts of the story and they are fun and impressive, but Cianfrance is much more compelled by Jeffrey the person, whom he casts here with Channing Tatum. Far more attention is given over in the early goings to his relationship with his family -in particular a daughter whom he shares custody with and whom he is driven to spoil through the results of his crime spree. The caring, healthy family man in Jeffrey is seen again in the major focus of the latter half of the film -in the romance he develops with one of the Toys “R” Us employees Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) and the paternalistic role model he provides for her two daughters -becoming an active part of their lives (largely on weekends and evenings when the store is closed) as John Zorn. The film’s major emotional backbone comes from this empathetic side of the character, defining him as a man craving domestic life.
Cianfrance plays this with a real sweetness as the tension looms always in the background of Jeffrey being caught again. At the same time he indulges in the cleverness with which Jeffrey is able to keep up his ruse for so long. How he figures out how to freeze the store’s security cameras so he can spend his nights in the empty building however he wants, how he creates a makeshift shelter in the walled off empty space behind the bicycle racks, and how he is able to gain information with which to manipulate Leigh’s shifts -always an inconvenience due to her jerk of a boss Mitch (Peter Dinklage)- and manage to discreetly enter and leave the building when the opportunity arises. Knowing the truth of the story, even in just broad strokes, adds to the curiosity, but also fuels the anticipation of the other shoe dropping, especially the more serious his relationship with Leigh and her family gets.
Tatum actually gives perhaps one of his best performances here, as he conveys well the yearning this man has for affection and a normal life. It isn’t just about the romance with Leigh, but the genuine relationship he fosters with her daughters is crucially important, cruel though it is to manipulate them so consistently -and digging himself in with commitments more and more. There are some emotional beats that he plays really well, concerning both families he desperately tries to keep a connection with. And it’s done fairly subtly too, especially in the John persona, where every real beat has to be under the surface. Opposite him, Dunst is very good too in what might have been a thankless role as the primary person being duped, but she does well at identifying and playing to the same need for connection, just from the vantage of a single working mother.
Curiously, the church plays a major role in their relationship -it is where they meet through Jeff delivering toys for a charity drive- and it is refreshing to see a fairly accurate depiction of a church community, here led by an idiosyncratic pastor played by Ben Mendelsohn and his wife played by Uzo Aduba. Given its presence in the story it is hard not to see Jeffrey’s story with Leigh through a Christian lens of seeking redemption for sins through looking to settle down with a wholesome family and become part of a church fellowship. Compared to both his other options, to flee the country and essentially start his life over with a whole new identity and relationships, as well as his distinctively non-Christian associate Steve (LaKeith Stanfield) orchestrating this -indicative of a former less traditionally upstanding existence, it is presented as a dream life. Cianfrance holds back from leaning fully into Christian moralism -and the movie itself never preaches at all- but it is a present spectre.
For the movie's general commitments to authenticity, dramatic licence is very palpable in framings such as this as well as somewhat dim archetypes we see in characters like Mitch and Steve, Jeffrey's cold ex-wife Talana (Melonie Diaz) and Steve's girlfriend Michelle -a nothing part played bizarrely by Juno Temple. Some of the subplot drama, especially involving Mitch and his put-upon employee Otis (Emory Cohen), and Leigh's eldest daughter Lindsay's (Lily Colias) resentment of John feels notably artificial, and other sequences like a botched robbery of a gun dealership or Jeffrey being caught naked in the store after hours though, based on real episodes, feel exaggerated. And yet the movie still works in spite of these aspects, perhaps because the narrative is so unbelievable to begin with. You are asked to accept a bit of fantasy in context, and Cianfrance's tender hand makes it easy.
You know from the start where Roofman is ultimately headed even if you don't know the story (had Manchester gotten away with it completely there would be no public story to tell), and yet the road there that Cianfrance maps out is engaging not just on the novelty but in the earnestness of the man's personality and motivations -to the point you might hope he doesn't get caught. It is great tension mixed with levity, and though the subject matter might make this a strange thing to suggest, it is a perfectly nice film.

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