The full extent of Channing Tatum’s charismatic powers fuel Roofman (now streaming on Paramount+, in addition to VOD platforms like Amazon Prime Video), a somewhat stranger-than-fiction BOATS (Based On A True Story) movie about a real-life criminal who robbed places by cutting through their roofs. He also was rather genial to the McDonald’s employees he locked in the freezer, and lived inside a fixture in a Toys ‘R’ Us store for a while after he broke out of prison. Yeah – it’s quite the story. The film also marks the return of filmmaker Derek Cianfrance, best known for exquisitely filmed miserable dramas Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, for his first directorial effort since 2016’s The Light Between Oceans; ostensibly a comedy, Roofman is his most crowdpleasing effort, but one with a dark enough fringe to match his M.O.
ROOFMAN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: In a heist movie, Jeffrey Manchester (Tatum) would be the case man, the guy who scopes out the setting of the prospective crime, crafting a plan that exploits the minutiae of routines, e.g., when the bank has the most cash, where the security cameras’ blind spots are, the routines of security guards, etc. Jeffrey knows McDonald’s restaurants have the most dough in their safes first thing in the morning, so he smashes holes in their roofs, hides until the first employees arrive, robs them, then kindly ushers them into the walk-in freezer, making sure they have their coats on first so they don’t get too cold. We meet Jeffrey in the midst of one of these heists, and when the McD’s manager doesn’t have a jacket to wear in the freezer, Jeffrey pulls off his own and hands it over. Sweet dude. Thoughtful. Too bad he’s a crook, right?
Jeffrey was inspired to do this out of desperation. He couldn’t afford a new bike for his daughter’s birthday, and seems to be struggling after a stint in the military, a vague struggle that doesn’t seem to pinpoint…