Film Review: Roofman

Roofman
Director: Derek Cianfrance
High Frequency Entertainment, Hunting Lane Films, 51 Entertainment, Limelight
In Theaters: 10.10.2025

As both an experienced filmmaker and a critic who sees several hundred movies a year and often gets a chance to talk to the actors in these films, I sometimes find it difficult to get truly swept up by a story and its characters. I don’t say that to tout my cinematic credentials, but rather to lament the fact that at a certain point, it creates distance. And I find it hard to become as deeply invested in what’s happening on screen as I used to do. Then a film like Roofman comes along that is so good, and creates such vivid characters, that I forget I’m even watching a movie.

Roofman tells the wild but true story of Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum, Magic Mike, Logan Lucky), a former U.S. Army paratrooper and devoted father who turns to an unusual life of crime in the early 2000s. Using his military skills, Manchester robs McDonald’s restaurants by cutting through their roofs, earning him the nickname “Roofman.” After being captured and sentenced to prison, he escapes by hiding beneath a transport bus and disappears into a Toys “R” Us under renovation, secretly living within its walls for six months. There, he survives undetected by the self important but clueless store manager, Mitch (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones, Cyrano) — sneaking out to sell video games, attend church and using the name John Zorn, he begins a tender romance with Leigh (Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, Civil War), a single mother who works at the store. As Jeffrey starts to fall for Leigh, she and her two daughters, Lindsay (Lily Collias, Good One) and Dee (Kennedy Moyer, Task, One Second After) become a replacement family. As the authorities start closing in, Jeffrey reaches out to an old army buddy, Steve (LaKeith Stanfield, Sorry to Bother You, The Harder They Fall) who has figured out that Jeffrey is the Roofman, and who deals in fake IDs and passports. The only problem is that Jeffrey is happy as John, and with Christmas approaching and a newly-acquired family to spend it with, he doesn’t want to leave.

Director Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines, I Know This Much is True), who co-wrote the screenplay with Kirt Gunn (Sound of Metal) stays remarkably to the real life events while weaving blending drama with comedy, and the characters are brought to life so vividly and the crazy situation so believably played out that is utterly captivating. This is a flat out great movie, but it’s not necessarily the one that audiences may be expecting. Paramount Pictures and Miramax are marketing Roofman as a light as a feather romcom date movie, and while it has romance and laughs, it’s also got a lot of heavy drama that the ad campaign doesn’t hint at, and some audiences may feel alienated. It’s a shame, because it’s a far better and more memorable film than the one it’s being sold as, it’s just one that may make you think, feel and cry more than you’re expecting.

Tatum is in peak form as both a movie star and an actor, giving arguably the performance of his career, perfectly cast as a smart but aimless vet who doesn’t know how to make it in the real world. While some may feel that the movie humanizes and even sympathizes with a criminal, Jeffrey Manchester is very much a human, and Tatum brilliantly portrays the sense of fun the character is having without ever losing the listless sense of longing, and punctuates it all with heartbreaking regret. Dunst is a personal favorite who doesn’t get enough opportunities to flex her range, and she’s a bright light here. Cianfrance is clearly a Spider Man, and can’t resist throwing in multiple winking references to the fact that at the time the movie takes place, Dunst was Spidey and America’s sweetheart, between lots of pointed inclusion of web-slinger merch in the store, and a cameo by the MCU’s Flash Thompson, Tony Revolori. The supporting is stellar with Dinklage taking a character who could have been a one note cartoon and making him so real, it’s almost unnerving for anyone who’s ever had “that boss,” and Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ready Player One) gets a rare chance to play against type as Ron Smith, the pastor of Leigh’s church. As a big fan of Stanfield, I was frustrated that he wasn’t getting much screentime, but that gets rectified, and his scenes with Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) as his girlfriend Michelle are terrific.

Roofman is true to its title character is being far different, and far more, than it appears to be on the surface, and while that may create an uneasy feeling, it makes for a truly great movie. Roofman is a strong candidate for best movies of the year, and it’s an instant addition to my alternative Christmas classics list. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews from Patrick Gibbs:
Film Review: A House of Dynamite 
Film Review: Spinal Tap II: The End Continues