We forget just how important the 21 Jump Street movies were for Channing Tatum’s career. They firmly established that he’s best as a comedic everyman actor, and for the most part he’s leaned into that over the last few years. With Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman, Tatum has one of the best roles he’s ever had as a real-life guy who, if played by someone else, would be tough to root for. But Tatum brings a lightness, a vulnerability, a sweetness that makes you want to see everything work out for someone who is essentially a career criminal.
Roofman is a crowd-pleasing gem, and the kind of comforting dramedy that studios don’t make too often anymore. It’s based on the true story of spree robber Jeffrey Manchester, an Army vet who turns to crime to support his wife (Melonie Diaz, a disappointingly small part for her) and daughter, who both already see him as something of a loser. The problem with Jeff is that he’s brilliant, he can see things most others can’t, but he has neither the motivation nor the killer instinct to thrive. As Jeff’s best friend and fellow Army vet Steve (LaKeith Stanfield) tells him, “You’re the smartest dumb ni**a” he’s ever met.
It’s all true, though. The film begins with Jeff robbing a McDonald’s and, after forcing the employees into the walk-in freezer, he gives one of them a coat to stay warm. Of course, Jeff’s crimes get him thrown in jail, but he eventually escapes (something he’s quite good at) and takes up hiding in a Toys R Us store. Remember those? >sigh< The good old days! Anyway, Jeff is having a ball playing around with the kids’ toys and eating the candy, but he also can’t help but get involved in the lives of the employees, in particular beautiful single mom Leigh, played by Kirsten Dunst.
Much of Roofman follows Jeff and Leigh’s courtship, but it’s also a fish-out-of-water comedy. Jeff, once again attempting to do good by doing something wrong, winds up a popular member of Leigh’s church, with all of the single ladies attracted to this new, hot guy in town. But it’s Leigh that he has eyes for, and they eventually become an item. He even wins over her skeptical teenage daughter, and becomes a father figure to the younger child.
Cianfrance is best known for the heavy relationship drama Blue Valentine and the epic, Shakespearean triptych The Place Beyond the Pines. He’s walking a delicate balancing act with Roofman, because play it too cute and it ignores that Jeff is a criminal who is also being deceptive to someone he could seriously damage emotionally. He’s lying to Leigh and her children about who he is, even if his intentions towards them are pure. But Cianfrance weighs it perfectly, not overlooking Jeff’s actions while acknowledging that his feelings are true. And who better to play a lovable, well-meaning screw-up than Tatum? Tatum and Dunst are such a winning couple you hope to see them paired up again and again after this.
Overall, Roofman is a bit light on substance, especially for a Cianfrance film. There’s a somber undercurrent because we know things can’t turn out well for Jeff and Leigh’s relationship. Even so, the journey to the inevitably bittersweet conclusion is funny and moving in equal measure. It’s one of those films that I think everyone can take some value from, and find their own reason to enjoy. Hopefully, Roofman does well enough that studios begin telling these kinds of stories again.
Roofman opens in theaters October 10th.
