Movie Review: Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst bring humanity to true-crime tale ‘Roofman’

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Down on his luck divorced dad who resorts to crime is becoming familiar territory for Channing Tatum as an actor. In “Logan Lucky” his mark was the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In “Roofman,”in theaters Friday, it’s McDonald’s. In both films, there’s a young daughter he wants to impress. The big, heartbreaking difference is that “Roofman” isn’t just some fun, eccentric caper — it’s based on a wild true story, involving a prison escape, a six-month secret stay inside Toys “R” Us and a local girlfriend who was none-the-wiser to his criminal ways.

The film, directed by Derek Cianfrance, who co-wrote the script with Kirt Gunn, takes some important liberties in telling the story of Jeffrey Manchester, though many of the wildest beats did actually happen, including offering up his coat to a McDonald’s employee he was robbing. It’s suspected that he hit over 40 of the fast-food joints across the country before he was nabbed in North Carolina.

After escaping from prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence (mostly stemming from kidnapping charges), he really did live behind a bike display in a Charlotte Toys “R” Us, ate baby food to survive, decorated his makeshift bed with Spider-Man sheets and eventually started venturing out into the town and attending a local church where he began dating a single mom.

In “Roofman,” Jeffery’s life of crime starts with a minor humiliation. Already divorced, the U.S. Army veteran asks his daughter what she wants for her 6th birthday as she’s blowing out the candles, which just seems to be setting himself up for failure. She wants a bike, which is out of his price range, and he has the grand idea to start robbing. It works until it doesn’t.

Tatum is really good at making you immediately empathetic to the plight of his character, who is written as a smart, good guy who just can’t catch a break. Inside the toy store, he watches the jerky manager (Peter Dinklage) bossing his employees (including Leigh, his future girlfriend played by Kirsten Dunst ) around and becomes a modern Robin Hood, secretly adjusting schedules to more humane hours and donating stolen toys to a church. He yearns to see his three kids, but he knows that’s too dangerous and is biding time until his old army pal ( LaKeith Stanfield ) can help him flee the country. Then he meets Leigh and falls in love.

“Roofman” wants to be a few things at once, a funny, low-stakes caper, a sweet romance between two no-longer-young divorcees, and a humane portrait of the lengths working class-Americans must go to simply get by in a system that seems stacked against them. Shot on 35 mm film, it has a grainy, vintage look because it’s 2004 and suddenly that feels like a very long time ago. And it mostly gets by with its aims, thanks to Tatum's beautiful performance that shows off his range, and Dunst, who does miracles with limited material. Her Leigh is a tired, working mom who is cautiously optimistic that things might just be good for a moment despite her new boyfriend’s fake-sounding job and penchant for elaborate gift-giving. While I would have liked more of her side, at least she gets to be a character, unlike Jeff’s ex-wife (Melonie Diaz) who is simply an obstacle to him seeing his kids. Why did they get divorced? The movie never asks. Perhaps because part of the answer might have something to do with a domestic disturbance 911 call that the film doesn’t touch.

“Roofman” is best experienced as a movie and a movie alone, where two likable actors give fine performances and carry the story through its rougher parts. But there’s something a little hard to digest when you try to synthesize the real Jeffrey Manchester, who sounds much more complex and fascinating, and the movie Jeffrey Manchester. The film succeeds in doing what it aimed for: Presenting a humane portrait of a guy who will be serving most of his life behind bars, in crowd-pleasing packaging. But what, ultimately, is the point of using the charming parts and ignoring the unsavory ones? For a filmmaker who has never shied away from the rough edges of reality, “Roofman” feels a bit dishonest.

“Roofman,” a Paramount Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “’brief sexuality, nudity and language.” Running time: 126 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.