‘Roofman’ Is the Saddest Romantic Comedy in Ages — and One of Derek Cianfrance’s Very Best Films Yet [Review]

Right now, the critics aren’t giving Roofman the praise it deserves — it’s sitting at just 82% from Rotten Tomatoes and a lackluster 64% on Metacritic. Go see it this weekend, it’s a wonderful movie.

Here’s my review from TIFF:

Channing Tatum plays real-life criminal Jeffrey Manchester with such boyish charisma that it’s hard not to root for him, even as you know better in Derek Cianfrance’s “Roofman,” which is the best world premiere to have screened so far at TIFF.

Manchester is a criminal, but he’s one of those rare ones you can’t entirely dislike. He robs McDonald’s—not with brute force, but with careful, almost polite precision. He locks employees in the cooler, yes, but only after making sure they’re warm enough. If needed, he might even give them his coat. That’s the kind of man he is: meticulous, oddly considerate, and infuriatingly charming.

Don’t let the pedestrian trailer mislead you — this is a smartly crafted film that’s as entertaining as it is soulful. At 126 minutes, it moves briskly, propelled by sharp direction and crisp editing that make the time fly. Yes, it’s Cianfrance’s most “commercial” film, but there’s a real artful flair to it.

Cianfrance has always been drawn to doomed characters. Here, he finds a perfect match in Tatum, whose Manchester is a mixture of charm, and recklessness, and Tatum embodies all of it with a confidence that’s grown beyond his earlier, more cocky roles.

The story, however, isn’t just about the heists. After an ingeniously conceived jail break, Manchester hides out in the empty corners of a Charlotte Toys R Us, surviving on candy and junk food, skating around, and claiming the store as his private home. It’s a strange, story, yet it actually happened, and Cianfrance never treats it as silly.

Just as a manhunt ensues for him, Manchester strikes up a romance with one of the store’s employees, Leigh — wonderful turn by Kirsten Dunst— a single mother and employee of the store, is cautious, wary, and devoted to her children. Their chemistry is effortlessly romantic. He finds the unconventional point of entry into her heart, and it’s that relationship, more than any robbery, that carries the movie.

There’s tragedy here, too. Manchester loses one family and jeopardizes his second chance by slipping back into old patterns. He needs to escape extradition and calls up an old friend (Lakeith Stanfield) to concoct a fake passport for him.

The film’s heists, while playful, and gripping, never dominate; instead, they serve as a lens into Manchester’s complicated character: In fact, “Roofman” may be the saddest romantic comedy in ages. It is a film about contradictions, and it wears them like a badge. The film’s pleasures exist under the shadow of inevitable doom. It’s a rom-com, yes, but one where the comedy and romance are constantly haunted by the inevitable downfall. Cianfrance shoots it like a pro — it’s one of the best films of his career.