DIRECTOR
Derek Cianfrance
The Light Between Oceans, The Place Beyond The Pines, Blue Valentine

STARS
Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, LaKeith Stanfield and Ben Mendelsohn

At last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, I viewed a documentary titled Secret Mall Apartment, about a group of artists who, as the title indicates, secretly built and inhabited a hidden apartment inside a mall in Rhode Island! Though their living arrangements weren’t exactly legal, they weren’t committing criminal offences by day at least, unlike the protagonist and antagonist in one of this effortlessly enjoyable feature film of questionable intent.

Before Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) winds up making a makeshift home inside a Toys “R” Us store in North Carolina, he committed several armed robberies by breaking in via the roof of stores, adopting the nickname ‘Roofman’. This is all a true story that happened in the late nineties! Aside from his rather unorthodox point of entry for an armed robber, another uncommon characteristic Jeffrey possessed and displayed during his heists towards innocent staff were good manners. In fact, more than good manners. As we see in the opening scene, the masked assailant is extremely thoughtful, even offering his jacket to a McDonalds manager he orders to remain in the cool room while robbing his store! Later, he even goes all Santa Clause, dispensing stolen goods to the church attended to by Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), an employee at that Toys “R” Us store he starts to develop feelings for.

Seemingly conscious of the fact they wish to instantly sway audiences to the side of the bad guy who might be a great guy at heart, the writers (which includes director Derek Cianfrance) have genuinely done all they can to brainwash our better judgement and succeed at just that from the outset. Their star performer, Channing Tatum, turns up the charisma to 11/10 from the opening scene and rarely adjusts that setting for the next (slightly more than) 2 hours. He is undoubtedly the perfect choice for this part, if ever there was one. The origin and motivation of his criminal ways, and where and how this opportunity crossed his path, are well explained from early and are more than capable at deriving some level of empathy from viewers. As Jeffrey observes his newfound place of residence during store hours and comes out to play once the lights go down, the screenplay is affectionately adventurous in exhibiting how Jeffrey passes time, gains essential knowledge for “planning” and finds the object of his desire. There is questioning of the film’s intent, as I mentioned earlier and am getting to soon, but there is no question of its ability to effortlessly entertain audiences. As the risk and cost of capture only grows as the minutes go by in Roofman, the film is also capable at generating tension when things don’t go down as Jeffrey had intended. So, when assessing this crime comedic drama for the experience it intends to have and does deliver to audiences, Roofman snatches and grabs our moral compass and turfs it right out the theatre on its way to being a terrific success! 

♦♦♦♦♦

Problem is, perhaps for some, yet not all, but certainly for me, that moral compass was waiting for me upon exiting the cinema. 

When one applies a little bit of “Magic Mike” to Channing Tatum’s completely charismatic real-life character and strips him of his charm, we are left with a repeat offender who is less than remorseful for his inexcusable actions, is aware of and accepts the safety risk to people he poses for selfish gain most of us work an honest life to accomplish and doesn’t consider the impact to those who genuinely love him, namely his own children.  

What is for large part a sweet treat leaves a bitter taste. 

Roofman is showing in cinemas across Australia from October 16th, 2025.

Moviedoc thanks VVS Films and Nixco for the invitation to the screening of this film. 

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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