Roofman Movie Review
Filmmaker Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) takes his fascination with flawed men and tangled morality into true-crime territory with Roofman, based on the unbelievable real story of Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a former Army veteran who became infamous for breaking into fast-food restaurants through their roofs.
Tatum plays Manchester with quiet charisma and sadness, a man whose crimes are less about greed and more about an odd, desperate search for belonging. After escaping prison, he hides out inside a Toys “R” Us for months, living among the aisles and forming a relationship with a local woman (Kirsten Dunst) who has no idea who he really is.
What could have easily been an outrageous true-crime caper becomes something far more humane. Cianfrance brings his signature empathy and tenderness, finding small moments of humour and grace in between the chaos. Tatum is fantastic, giving one of his most layered performances, and Dunst is equally compelling, warm, conflicted, and deeply human.
Roofman might not hit the same emotional extremes as Blue Valentine or The Place Beyond the Pines, but it shows a filmmaker still deeply curious about the limits of forgiveness and the strange ways people reach for redemption. Funny, melancholy, and quietly moving, a story so bizarre it could only be true.
Roofman is in Australian cinemas October 16
