In all honesty, I didn’t know Channing Tatum had it in him to act like he did in the upcoming drama Roofman.
Based on the story of Jeffrey Manchester, it’s a dramatization of his crimes that led him to being imprisoned to this very day. Beginning in 1998, Manchester would cut a hole in the roof of a multitude of businesses, mainly McDonald’s, and he would rob them. And according to real life accounts before and after he got caught, he was polite when robbing people. For example, when he would put the employees in a freezer so they could be out of the way, he would make sure that they all had their coats on so they wouldn’t get cold. This is the man that Channing Tatum plays in Roofman.
And I understand that Tatum has taken on a little bit more serious roles. Just last year he acted in Zoe Kravitz’s film Blink Twice. That got him a lot of fanfare for his acting. But I never watched that movie. So he was still Magic Mike or that guy from the 21 Jump Street movies.
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Roofman has changed my perception of Tatum and proven that he’s more than just comedic relief. And he did all of that without forgetting the comedy he’s done, ultimately integrating that light and humor into who Jeffrey was. This right here is a positive for me because I’m tired of the brooding leads in dramas like this. I want the drama balanced with the humor because that’s how humans truly are. And Roofman did that.
Just because I think Tatum impressed me as Jeffrey doesn’t mean that his character was sympathetic. I found myself quite often being frustrated with Jeffrey. This man had the opportunity to do the right thing over and over again and he always chose the easier but more difficult path. The same thing goes with his intelligence. He was a highly skilled individual who noticed more things than most people do. And he took that and committed crimes. Doesn’t matter that he had a family to support. He could have used his skills to support them legally.
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This goes back to the whole opening of this review about Tatum surprising me with his acting. I liked that Tatum managed to balance out his character’s honest desperation for survival with a heart that just wanted to belong. That right there is the simplest of motivators that is always powerful. And I feel like a Roofman really exemplifies that through Tatum’s character. He wants to belong and he feels like the only way to belong is to give people gifts or monetary items. That obviously backfires because Jeffrey doesn’t understand that his loved ones don’t want his money. They just want him.
The other half of this movie is Kirsten Dunst. I’ve never seen this actress do a bad movie. And she hasn’t broken her streak with Roofman. She plays Leigh, a woman who works at the Toys R Us where Jeffrey hides after escaping from prison. And her character is easier to sympathize with, no matter if you’re a woman or man, because she’s protecting her children above anyone else. She still has faith in Jeffrey. She has a lot of faith in a lot of people doing the right thing. But her boundaries are clear when it comes to her children.
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While it was hard to sympathize with Jeffrey’s character, and Tatum’s portrayal of him, I broke a little bit during his character’s final moment with Leigh. Now that made me tear up. Because at the end of the day we’re just human beings trying to do the best we can. But sometimes our best isn’t enough. So what do we do when we realize we’re the problem? What do we do when we’ve messed up other people’s lives? And how much are we willing to sacrifice for a sense of belonging in the first place?
Roofman screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and premieres in theaters on October 10.
