What’s It About

After escaping from prison, former soldier and professional thief Jeffrey Manchester finds a hideout inside a Toys “R” Us, surviving undetected for months while planning his next move.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

The newest film from Derek Cianfrance chronicles the bizarre yet factual incident of Jeffrey Manchester, an ex-military man gone astray, who actually lived in a Toys “R” Us after his prison break. Yes, you read that correctly. While nearly all escaped prisoners run for their lives across the border, this man thought a toy store was a great option for a hideout. It sounds ridiculous because it is, yet somehow Channing Tatum makes you almost forget you’re watching a movie about an armed robber who terrorized McDonald’s workers and lied to everyone he met. The story kicks off in 2000 when Manchester, struggling to support his family after leaving the Army Reserve, starts robbing McDonald’s locations around Charlotte, North Carolina. His signature move? Going onto roofs and dropping through vents – rather than just walking through the front door like a normal criminal. The local news calls him “Roofman”, and ultimately, the cops catch him at home in front of his three children and arrest him. He is sentenced to 45 years in prison. Four years later, he performs an escape that any action movie would be jealous of. Now on the run, Manchester needs somewhere to hide while waiting for his army buddy Steve to hook him up with fake papers and an escape route. His brilliant solution? Break into a Toys “R” Us and make it his personal apartment. He finds a hidden spot behind some bike displays, turns off the security cameras in his area, and suddenly, he’s living every kid’s dream—unlimited access to a toy store after hours. He survives on baby food and chocolate bars, takes sink baths in the employee restroom, and watches the staff through baby monitors like they’re contestants on a reality show. This leads us to the workplace drama that takes place during store hours, as manager Mitch, played by Peter Dinklage, has the ability to treat his employees like absolute garbage; he mocks worker Otis about his weight, does not give anyone decent hours, and acts like all of the worst bosses you’ve ever had, multiplied by a factor of ten. Manchester watches all this unfold from his secret hideout, paying special attention to Leigh, a single mom played by Kirsten Dunst who’s just trying to make ends meet while raising two daughters. When Manchester overhears Leigh mention a toy drive at her church, he decides to play Santa Claus and drops off some “donated” merchandise. The super-friendly pastor more or less drags him into Sunday service, where he first meets Leigh in person. They hit it off, and before long, Manchester is hanging around with Leigh and her daughters, Lindsay and Dee. Of course, he can’t exactly tell them he’s a fugitive living in the store where she works, so he concocts this entire narrative about being some kind of covert government agent. Surprisingly, not one of them calls him on it. Cianfrance, no doubt, wanted to create something lighter and more fun than his previous heavy dramas like “Blue Valentine.” The movie absolutely carries the small-town America vibe that he does so well, as well as very tight details from the early 2000s. If you remember anything about when Toys ‘R’ Us existed, or the look of a retro diner if you ate fast food during that time at McDonald’s, you’ll appreciate just how much work was invested in studio and set design to capture that era and time. The cinematography gives it everything this lived-in, natural feel that grounds the crazy story. Tatum brings tons of charm to the role, which the movie desperately needs because let’s be honest—Manchester makes terrible decisions constantly. He’s supposed to be this lovable screw-up with a good heart, kind of like Tom Hanks in “The Terminal,” but with more felonies. The problem is that the more you think about what he’s actually doing, the creepier it gets. He is stalking Leigh via cameras, deceiving Leigh’s children, and even purchasing their affection with stolen possessions and putting everyone around him at risk. The film desires us to see him as this harmless, well-intended person who just can’t catch a break, but in reality, he is just making one selfish choice at a time. Dunst does amazing work as Leigh, playing her as a regular person trying to survive rather than some Hollywood version of a small-town mom. She brings real emotion to scenes that could’ve felt fake, especially toward the end when everything falls apart. At the same time, skilled actors like LaKeith Stanfield, Ben Mendelsohn, Uzo Aduba, and Juno Temple appear in roles that virtually give them nothing to do. It’s a little frustrating to witness such a strong cast in such small roles. The film’s focus shifts to the romance between Manchester and Leigh that becomes frustrating. The script by Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn tries to make their relationship sweet and genuine, but it is all built on worse lies and surveillance. It’s unsettling to watch their love story knowing the truth. The film shrinks back from how messed up the situation really is, expecting you to treat it like a regular love story, disregarding the cruelty of the manipulation. What’s missing is any real exploration of why Manchester keeps making such spectacularly dumb choices. We get hints that maybe he’s not quite right mentally, or that the government failed him as a veteran, or that he has this fantasy about being the perfect father and husband. But the movie never digs deeper into his psychology. His army friend Steve points out that Manchester notices every tiny detail but can’t figure out how to use that skill productively. A prison guard calls him smart but also an idiot. That’s about as much insight as we get. The movie also completely abandons Manchester’s original family. After his escape, he calls his ex-wife once, she tells him they’ve moved on, and that’s it. The script acts like this gives him permission to start over with a new, ready-made family, which feels pretty gross when you stop to think about it. The real Manchester had three daughters who probably deserved more than one phone call from their escaped-convict father. When Steve finally returns from Iraq, Manchester needs money fast to pay for those fake documents. This leads to increasingly risky crimes—burning down a dentist’s office, robbing a pawn shop, and eventually hitting the Toys “R” Us itself right before Christmas. The whole time, you’re waiting for everything to crash down, and when it does, the movie still can’t decide how it feels about any of it. By the end, “Roofman” leaves you wondering what story it was actually trying to tell. Is it a fun caper about a guy living in a toy store? A romance between two struggling single parents? A commentary on how America treats veterans? A cautionary tale about deception and consequences? It touches on all these ideas without committing to any of them, leaving the whole thing feeling frustratingly incomplete.”Roofman” works okay as light entertainment, mostly thanks to Tatum’s natural likability and Dunst’s grounded performance. But it could’ve been so much more if it had the courage to actually examine who Jeffrey Manchester was instead of just showing us what he did. The actual story deserved a more serious, and therefore more truthful, treatment than what it received, or at the very least a more meaningfully funny comedic treatment that embraced the absurdity of the story. Instead, we are left with something highly stuck in the middle—charming enough for one-time viewing, but shallow enough to either forget about or not think about after watching it.

OUR RATING – A CON-ARTIST 5