What’s the most exciting thing to ever happen in a Toys R Us? I’m sure there are as many answers to that question as there are kids who ever entered those stores, but I’m also sure that the *definitive* answer has been provided by Derek Cianfrance with his sweet, funny, and oh-so sad true crime romcom Roofman. Based on the life of ex-soldier Jeff Manchester, who hid from police for months in a North Carolina Toys R Us while also living a double life as a boyfriend to a mum in the local community, it’s the sort of warm-hearted, old-school caper that we always need more of.
Channing Tatum gives one of his best performances as Jeff, who gained the nickname ‘Roofman’ from the press for his unique robbery style – he would, in the dead of night, climb up to the roof of a McDonald’s, break through it and then, when staff came in in the morning, he’d stick them up for all the cash in the place. It was a strategy that worked 45 times before he was caught, after which he promptly broke out of prison and started his Toys R Us live-in, hiding in the walls of the place in the day and running free at night.
Everyone who was robbed by Jeff attested the same thing – that he was unfailingly polite, even giving his victims coats to stay warm when he locked them in the meat freezers, and it’s this softness of heart that both dooms Jeff and makes him such a brilliant protagonist. Breaking all the on-the-lam rules, he finds himself falling for one of the store’s employees; mum-of-two Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), the only one who stands up to the dickhead manager Mitch (Peter Dinklage). Soon, he’s sneaking out in the day, giving the fake name John Zorne, and dating Leigh while becoming a surrogate dad to her 16- and 11-year-old daughters.
It’s all gonna end in tears, of course – that’s the only way a story like this could even cinematically exist – but it’s also genuinely funny and romantic, thanks to a constantly sharp script from Cianfrance and co-writer Kirt Gunn. Tatum and Dunst are fantastic together playing people who just love people, a too-rare thing in modern stories. Their relationship is so easy to root for, particularly once Jeff starts winning over Leigh’s kids, giving him a fatherly connection that he has been dying for ever since his escape from prison left his own house, with his little daughter and infant sons, under constant police surveillance.
This is easily Cianfrance’s gentlest film in terms of content and tone, and he matches that with a warm, shot-on-film style that just invites us into this world. Revolving around American retail (incidentally, this is a story that could only work in a country like the US, where houses are built of paper and prayers), seasonal holidays are a huge part of it, and so it’s a great Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas film all in one. I never thought I’d say that a Derek Cianfrance film would make for great family-gathering viewing to warm you up in the autumn months, but Roofman is exactly that, and it’s lovely.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 