Roofman info:
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writer: Derek Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn
Starring: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, LaKeith Stanfield, and Peter Dinklage
Review:
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. For all you fall weather fans, it looks like your time has come. It looks like the cooler air is here to stay, the MLB playoffs are down to the final two teams (all my teams are gone!), and I just got back from a weekend away where my son and I traveled to do a 5K and spend some time together.
Besides eating out too often, we also went on a trip to a movie theater I had never visited before. We had to choose between “Roofman” and “Good Fortune,” and “Roofman” won, so that’s what I’m writing about this week. But before I dive into this review, I’ll give my usual spoiler alert. If you haven’t watched the movie yet and don’t want to know what happens, you might want to check out my reviews page first to see what else I’ve got for you before coming back to this one.
Ok, onto the main topic. “Roofman” was directed by Derek Cianfrance (who’s been around for a bit but doesn’t have a big backlog of films under his belt. That didn’t stop him from giving it his all and making one hell of a fun movie. The most amazing part is that it’s actually based on a true story. I conducted research on Jeffrey Manchester after watching the movie and was surprised at how much of the film’s content actually occurred in real life.
Just like in real life, Manchester (played by Tatum) robbed 45 fast food restaurants, most of them being McDonald’s. Eventually, he gets caught and sent to prison. Even though he was an extremely nice guy, he still robbed people and locked them in the freezer. While in prison, he utilizes his “superpower” (the ability to see things that others don’t) to devise a means of escape. When he makes it back home, he knows he can’t see his family, so he tries to call his buddy Steve (Stanfield) for help, but finds out he has been deployed for six months.
Needing a place to hideout, he makes his way to a Toys ‘R’ Us…by using the roof of course… and finds a hidden cavity behind the bike racks. There, he slowly starts to take supplies from the store to furnish his little hideaway as he bides his time. While he waits, he sets up baby cameras all around the store so he can start monitoring what is going on. This is when he first sees Leigh (Dunst) and is immediately intrigued.
Starting to get restless, the “Roofman” makes his way over to a church to deliver some toys for Leigh’s toy drive. He did this after he overheard her boss Mitch (Dinklage) being rude about not donating. As he is there, he gets to officially meet her in person and agrees to go on a date with her. Things move fast and soon the two are together quite a lot and her kids even start to like him. But to keep up the charade, he starts to steal from the Toys ‘R’ Us and pawn things for cash.
Even though he is in hiding, things are looking pretty good for him until the six months is finally up and he goes to Steve to get an official way out. As Steve is working on the details, Jeffrey has to do one more job and he decides that it’s going to be the exact store he was staying at. But, things don’t go according to plan. He’s able to get the cash, but Leigh walks in on him at the end.
It doesn’t really say if she knew right then or not, but I believe she saw his eyes and understood everything at that moment. I think that is precisely why she worked with the police to lure him back to her house so they could finally catch him. It’s a sort of sad ending for all involved. Jeffrey had a way out and chose not to take it and Leigh had to see the man she was falling in love with get arrested at her front door.
Overall, this was a great way to tell this story and they chose the right guy to play the part of Jeffrey the “Roofman”. After a bit, you almost start to root for him and hope he gets away until you bring yourself back to reality and remember that someone did this in real life. That’s part of what makes it a great on-screen tale. The emotions are real however for both him and Leigh as she sees him taken away.
Even though the trailer does give away quite a bit of the plot, it was still very well made and had me wondering the whole time how it was going to end. Was he going to get away with it or be caught again? Ultimately, you can read online and find that out without even watching the movie, but I think you would do yourself a disservice if you did. For this and many other reasons, I have to give “Roofman” a 7 out of 10. I almost gave it an 8 and that may change later, but for now it gets a 7.
Watch or Wait?
So, should you rush out to see this in theaters now or wait until it’s available at home? Well, to be honest, it’s an entertaining ride from beginning to end, but since the real-life story is already out there, it’s not like spoilers are going to come out about it anytime soon. So, there really isn’t any reason you can’t wait to check this out when it’s available to buy at home.
Ok, that’s it for me this week. But now I want to hear from you. Have you seen “Roofman” yet? If so, what did you think? Did you enjoy it as much as I did or did you already know the ending, so it wasn’t as enjoyable for you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.
