The saddest romantic comedy ever, or maybe the most lighthearted tragedy in years, Derek Cianfrance’s “Roofman” is a film that perfectly embodies the description of its lead character delivered by a correctional officer halfway through the movie.
“He’s a very smart individual, probably genius level,” says the prison guard. “He’s also a complete idiot.”
There you have Jeffrey Manchester, a real-life Army veteran who robbed 40-some McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in the roof, was sent to prison for 45 years, escaped, lived undetected in a Toys “R” Us for six months and risked it all by romancing a churchgoing single mother.
His glaring contradictions form the bedrock of Cianfrance’s film, which embraces the duality by playing up the charm and likeability of a rom-com couple whose meet-cute involves a prison break and a bag of stolen toys. Cianfrance’s last few movies — the harrowing relationship story “Blue Valentine,” the multi-generational epic “The Place Beyond the Pines” and the weighty “The Light Between Oceans” — have been predominantly dark. “Roofman” feels lighter, friendlier and funnier.
But as the Paramount Pictures film goes on, its pleasures play out under the shadow of an all-but-inevitable doom; this is a film that feels enjoyable, but only if you can ignore what’s coming for these characters.
Still, there’s a very good reason Channing Tatum was chosen to play Manchester. The film keeps telling us that Jeffrey is a good guy even though he robs McDonald’s in an attempt to provide for the three children he and his estranged wife have. It’s easier to shrug off that string of felonies if the felon is played by the effortlessly charming Tatum, who somehow gets us to believe he’s just a little misguided.
“This is the part of the story where I hope you’re wondering how a nice guy like me got involved in this,” he says in a voiceover in the opening moments of the film, and it’s to his credit that we swallow the “nice guy like me” line. (I mean, hey, he gave the McDonald’s manager his hoodie before locking the guy in the walk-in refrigerator!)
Jeffrey, we’re told by his old Army buddy Steve (Lakeith Stanfield), has the remarkable ability to notice things that other people don’t, which makes him an asset in war zones and also in small towns with restaurants ripe for robbing. And when he’s sent to prison for one of those robberies that goes bad, his skill set also means that he can figure out how to get out.
The problem is that whole genius/idiot thing. Jeffrey wants to stay in the Charlotte area because that’s where his kids are, though he knows to contact them would result in immediate arrest. He stumbles on a Toys “R” Us store and hides there, first in a crawlspace and later in a more luxurious hideaway he fashions behind a wall of bicycles.
All of this plays out with a light touch, and with music by Christopher Bear that manages to be playful and a little sentimental even in the prison scenes. Between the tone of the film and the easygoing appeal of Tatum, “Roofman” gives us little choice but to root for Jeffrey, even when he puts on roller skates and does some questionable Tom Cruise/”Risky Business” moves in the toy store aisles or attacks the Tickle Me Elmo display in a fit of frustration.
And while he doesn’t really mean to start romancing Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst) when he brings a bag of pilfered goods to the toy drive she runs at a local church, he does it so naturally and she responds so eagerly that we kind of have to root for them, too. It helps that Dunst is grounded as always, and under normal circumstances they’d be an ideal rom-com couple.
But these are not normal circumstances. Cianfrance’s movie may play like a rom-com, but the rom and the com are taking place under a giant shadow; no matter how much you want to see these crazy kids succeed, you can’t ignore that settling down to cozy domesticity in the city where law enforcement knows what he looks like and is searching for him is simply not going to happen.
So this is a rom-com with a big but. There’s a hysterical scene where Jeffrey is bathing himself in the toy store restroom when the store manager (Peter Dinklage) shows up unexpectedly and confronts the stark-naked intruder … but that just means he’s probably going to be caught sooner. There’s a fun scene where Jeffrey and Leigh shop for a used car and his wild driving helps mend tensions with Leigh’s teenage daughter … but a photo of the happy family with their new car can only be one more opportunity for someone to spot Jeffrey.
“Roofman” has it both ways; it’s funny and foreboding, sweet and troubling, light on its feet but with an inescapable undertone of uneasiness, even dread. Jeffrey works hard to keep way too many balls in the air — relationships, hiding places, escape plans put together by Steve and his girlfriend Michelle (Juno Temple) — while Leigh puts on a brave face that can’t hide her increasing doubts (something Dunst is exceptionally good at conveying without calling attention to what she’s doing).
The tonal juggling act isn’t always seamless, but in a way, the contradictions are what give “Roofman” its life. It’s a sad movie, really, but it’s also a lot of fun. And if that doesn’t make sense, maybe it’s the whole point.
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