Channing Tatum plays charming criminal in true-story film Roofman

Earlier in 2025 director Darren Aronofsky released the action thriller Caught Stealing, a film that — while successful — was at odds with the rest of his filmography. Writer/director Derek Cianfrance has made a similar whiplash pivot with his new film, Roofman, an effort that has little in common with his most well-known works, each of which were intense dramas with tragic elements.

This film tells the real-life story of Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), who earns the nickname of “Roofman” after breaking into a series of fast food restaurants via their roofs in order to rob them. Those crimes send him to jail for a long sentence, but he soon breaks out using a simple-yet-ingenious method. Now on the run in Charlotte, North Carolina, he comes up with another smart way to stay hidden: In a rarely-checked display in the middle of a Toys “R” Us store.

His plan leaves him plenty of time to explore the store at night and get to know the habits of the employees during the day, including manager Mitch (Peter Dinklage) and Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), a single mom struggling to make ends meet and get along with her kids. Boredom soon sends Jeffrey out of the store, where he makes friends with Leigh under the assumed name of John Zorn, a relationship that becomes bigger than anticipated and imperils his fugitive status.

With much of the early 2000s-set film taking place inside the Toys “R” Us, Cianfrance and co-writer Kirt Gunn keep most of the story whimsical and fun. It’s an interesting trick to make a person who has committed multiple crimes, traumatized one family, and started down the road toward traumatizing another into a lovable protagonist, but the filmmakers pull it off. Jeffrey/John is portrayed as a goofy guy who just makes a series of really bad decisions, with even his victims finding it hard to bad-mouth him.

As the manhunt for Manchester continues during the many months of his hideout, there’s little doubt that things will go poorly for him in the end. However, Cianfrance and his team manage to structure the film in a way where it’s almost easy to forget he’s on the run from the law. While the film elides his ability to come and go from the store at will, it sets up his character so well that it’s easy to just go with the flow and enjoy the ride while it lasts.

What’s curious about the film, though, is the stacked supporting cast it has assembled. It includes Emmy winner Dinklage as the store manager, Oscar nominee LaKeith Stanfield as an old war buddy of Jeffrey, Emmy winners Ben Mendelssohn and Uzo Aduba as the leaders of the church where Jeffrey woos Leigh, and Emmy nominee Juno Temple as the war buddy’s girlfriend. While it’s a pleasure to see each of them, none of them have what would be considered meaty roles, so their collective talents are mostly wasted.

Tatum has a natural charm to him that makes him perfect for this type of part. He believably embodies a guy who knows the difference between right and wrong, and yet continues to do wrong on a consistent basis. It’s nice to see Dunst in a less dramatic role after The Power of the Dog and Civil War, and she elevates a role that could’ve been forgettable in other hands.

Roofman is much different from most of the films Cianfrance has made, which makes it surprising that he is successful in pulling off its generally comic tone. The golden retriever vibe of Tatum helps out in a big way, as does the story that would be unbelievable if it weren’t true.

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Roofman opens in theaters on October 10.