Roofman: a ‘stranger than fiction’ tale

The events that inspired “Roofman” fall squarely into the category of “stranger than fiction”, said Sophie Butcher in Empire. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a US army veteran named Jeffrey Manchester robbed more than 40 McDonald’s fast-food joints, by crawling into their roofs overnight and descending into the restaurants the following morning to hold staff up at gunpoint (while being disarmingly friendly and apologetic throughout).

He was eventually caught but he managed to escape, and then spent months hiding out in a branch of Toys R Us, living on baby food and M&Ms. Director Derek Cianfrance’s film based on these events is gritty but heartwarming, and features a “remarkable” performance from Channing Tatum, who depicts Manchester as “goofy and childlike”, while “effortlessly” walking a delicate path between comedy and tragedy.

The film opens before Manchester goes to jail, said Natalia Winkelman in The New York Times. In a voice-over, he explains that he had been desperate to change his fortunes, and win back his family. Instead, he ended up being sentenced to decades in prison. The section depicting his escape under a delivery van is “wonderfully engaging”, but soon we are in Toys R Us. Emerging during the day to mingle with shoppers, Manchester strikes up a relationship with a lonely single mother (Kirsten Dunst) who works in the store.

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Thus the zany premise of the film disappears, as we sink into a mushy but also complex romantic comedy-drama. It’s “watchable” enough, said Benjamin Lee in The Guardian, and both stars acquit themselves well. But Manchester – a criminal spinning a web of lies – gets off too lightly. Ultimately, the feel-good vibe feels a bit ill-judged.