Film Review: Roofman

Welcome back to the blog readers. Crime films are just a taste as to how a certain sect of the population lives, whether their reason for crime is personal or family-related. Plus, when these films are done right, they can be a lot of fun or painful as shit to watch. This film, however, has attracted my attention in recent months, because of how absolutely absurd the real story is. Now that I finally got to see this film (a sinus infection has kind of wiped me out the last few days), would I think it stands up with the other great films of this year? Stick around to find out.

Roofman was directed by Derek Cianfrance from a screenplay by Cianfrance and Kirk Gunn. The film stars Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Aduba, Lily Collias, Jimmy O. Yang, and Peter Dinklage. The film, based on the real story of criminal Jeffery Manchester, chronicles his robberies of 45 McDonald's restaurants, breaking out of prison, and eventual hiding out in a Toys "R" Us where he starts his life over.

If this film had come out ten years ago, I have a feeling I would not be as excited for it, especially because Channing Tatum had not yet become the bankable leading man he is now. I will talk more about him later on, but him being in the film was a big reason I was looking forward to it so like I was. And thankfully, my faith in Tatum has been rewarded because this film was a blast from start to finish. The comedy was genuine and funny when it was there, the script was expertly crafted, and the performance of Tatum might be the best I have seen from him thus far.

As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, Channing Tatum was not always the biggest star in the world. He was not a good actor but he was consistently getting work. But in the last number of years, he has been putting in the work to get better as an actor, leading to me being excited to see him in projects now. And his turn in last year's Fly Me to the Moon (2024) was really the tipping point for me in terms of what he could do. This performance as Jeffery Manchester was absolutely stellar. The way that Tatum plays this character honestly left me really impressed, especially since he brought the charisma that only he has to this character. He completely melted into this role and brought so much heart and emotion to it that I truly believe this is the best he has ever been.

The next positive I have for this film would definitely have to be the script. Some of my favorite films are ones that have the "based on a true story" tagline because they use the real story to play around and give us a new flavor. This time around, Cianfrance and Gunn use the real story to actually play around and give us a script with a light-hearted, yet emotional and heartfelt, look at second chances. Each word stings with emotional resonance, and each action elicits an emotion from the audience, and I credit the screenwriters for giving us one of the most delightful scripts I have seen all year.

And the final point of contention that I want to make has to do with the comedy in this film. I could have tied this paragraph into the previous one where I talked about the script, but I wanted to make special mention of the comedy because I think it is the soul and the beating heart of the film. I'm sure this film could have worked as a straight drama, but where is the fun in another serious drama? These kinds of films can get crazy and wacky, especially because the true story is itself crazy and wacky. I mean, the guy lived in a Toys "R" Us for six months. That is the funniest part of this whole story.

In conclusion, Roofman hones in a career best performance for Channing Tatum in a story that is treated with as much levity and wackiness as its real-life counterpart. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.