Roofman (2025) Movie Review: A Bleak Romantic-Comedy Merged With An Idiosyncratic Crime Drama

“Roofman” (2025) is based on a true story so unusual that it would feel ridiculous if presented as fictional. It’s the type of strange logline that could have invited a very by-the-numbers studio comedy, but it also could have spawned a standard crime drama that’s only differentiated by its premise. What “Roofman” ended up becoming doesn’t really fall into either category. It’s far too emotionally draining to feel like a standard programmer, but it has a sense of whimsy that treks outside of its crime thriller aesthetics. “Roofman” feels like two films merged into one, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While the film comes up short at making a cohesive point about its main characters, it’s rarely boring, and it finds some surprisingly emotional rewards within its messiness.

“Roofman” stars Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester, a former United States Army Reserve officer who has been hit hard times after a divorce from his ex-wife Talana (Melonie Diaz). Feeling dejected and embarrassed that he’s unable to provide for his children, Jeffrey decides to return to the mischief that had made him a liability before joining the military. After he’s imprisoned for robbing a series of McDonald’s, Jeffrey escapes and decides to hide within a Toys “R” Us while he waits for the media speculation to die down. Jeffrey is initially able to find ways to amuse himself as he spends nights in the retailer all by himself, but he begins to consider what his future will actually look like when he begins to fall for the employee Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), a single mother with two daughters.

The most surprising credit in “Roofman” is writer/director Derek Cianfrance, who made a name for himself with the punishingly emotional psychological dramas “Blue Valentine” and “The Place Beyond the Pines.” Cianfrance’s skill is in finding the frustrating, tragic ironies within an average life, and “Roofman” isn’t all that different in its grounded aesthetics when compared to his prior work. The difference is that this is an active film about a character who is unable to prevent himself from making risky choices, whereas Cianfrance’s earliest works were oppressive in their meditative misery. As brilliant as Cianfrance’s first two films were, his most recent film, “The Light Between Oceans,” and the HBO series “All I Know Is True” were downbeat to the point of self-parody. With “Roofman,” Cianfrance has found a genuinely likable protagonist who draws the audience in with his search for meaning and redemption.

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Roofman (2025) — A still from “Roofman” (2025)

Tatum is an actor with such inherent charisma that it often masks what a great actor he is. Although he was typecast early on in his career as a sweet, simple-minded heartthrob, Tatum has grown in films that are tragic (“Foxcatcher”), sentimental (“Logan Lucky”), and uproariously funny (“21 Jump Street”). All three of those descriptions could apply to “Roofman,” as the film begins on a rather sobering note that shows the burdens placed upon a struggling father who can’t seem to find a respectable way to provide for his family. The first chunk of the film, which shows how Jeffrey applies his military training to both his robbery spree and prison escape, sees Cianfrance capturing the same criminal minutia that had made “The Place Beyond the Pines” so profound.

It takes a truly talented actor to keep a film’s pacing consistent when the narrative is held to a halt, and Tatum works magic out of Jeffrey’s self-imposed confinement. Although the film is thankfully ambiguous on whether it was childhood trauma or military PTSD that spurned his inability to lie low, Jeffrey’s process of coping with the disappointments of his failed marriage as he concocts a new reality for himself is heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure.

There’s certainly a lot of fun to be had with the notion of a career criminal hiding out in a children’s toy store, but “Roofman” doesn’t turn Jeff into the butt of its jokes. There may be a smidge of late-stage capitalism satire and condemnation of America’s justice system, but the most overt political suggestions are set aside for a more intimate deconstruction of Jeff’s ethics. Even if he’s able to do some good within the situation he’s found himself in, Jeff has only made short-term plans, and seems to understand that his reality could fall apart at any moment.

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Many of the peripheral characters in “Roofman” are unfortunately sidelines. Ben Mendelsohn makes for an earnest (albeit strange) local pastor, Peter Dinklage is fun as the stick-in-the-mud Toys “R” Us manager, and Lakeith Stanfield adds some pathos as an army buddy of Jeff’s, but none of them have much interiority. However, Dunst has a naturalistic, wholesome way of portraying an overworked, yet optimistic mother that goes above and beyond what could have been a very clichéd role. Leigh has taken the hard road that Jeff avoided, but she’s also faced with questions about the decision she could’ve made to save herself pain.

Dunst and Tatum bring an awkward, winning dynamic to characters who have made the hard decision to give each other a second shot. Their chemistry is so good that it makes the inevitable ramifications of Jeff’s actions all the more crushing. Nonetheless, “Roofman” is smart in how it chooses to create suspense, as Jeff’s relationships have greater consequences than his legal punishments. The fact that the film fully transforms into a romantic-comedy for a good portion isn’t a detriment or sign of tonal incongruity. Jeff is fully unprepared to find a connection after determining that his best option is to remain on his own, and the transformation of the film’s genre represents the deceptive staticity that he has imposed upon his burgeoning romance.

“Roofman” has a brisk enough pace to keep Jeff on the hook, as there are enough micro-problems for him to solve along the way so that the more nuanced relationships have time to develop at a more gradual rate. Even if the film’s wrap-up may have been intended to have the type of abrupt, clumsy anti-climax that would represent what Jeff actually went through, it does seem like Cianfrance wasn’t entirely sure how to fit a convenient truism around his story. Even if Jeff was never able to reach self-actualization, the film could have stood to add a bit more wisdom. Nonetheless, “Roofman” feels like an old-fashioned star vehicle that’s surprising, witty, and genuinely affecting. This isn’t only a return to form for Cianfrance and a great showcase for both Tatum and Dunst, but one of 2025’s biggest pleasant surprises.