Title – Roofman (2025)

Director – Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines)

Cast – Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dinklage

Plot – Explores the true story of notorious early 2000’s criminal Jeffrey Manchester (Tatum) who upon an escape from prison set up residence inside a Toys R Us store to avoid police detection.  

“We both know doing things the right way is not your superpower”

Review by Eddie on 14/01/2026

Returning for his first feature film outing since 2016’s mildly disappointing The Light Between Oceans, director Derek Cianfrance and his leading man Channing Tatum deliver a decent dramedy effort in the form of true-life crime tale Roofman.

Based on the exploits of American criminal Jeffrey Manchester, here played by a game and buns baring Tatum, Roofman follows the misadventures of Manchester as he escapes a long-term prison incarceration and sets up shop in an active Toys R Us store to avoid authorities, only to put his potential freedom on the line when he meets and falls in love with church going store employee Leigh Wainscott, played here by the films MVP Kirsten Dunst.

Originally promoted as some type of mad-cap comedy/rom-com, Roofman’s far more stoic and even depressing take on a criminal who just doesn’t know when to stop was one of 2025’s most curiously middle of the road films.

Garnering decent if far from glowing reviews, solid audience reception and some acceptable box-office returns, Roofman struggles too ever fully come to grips with its own identity with some of its outlandish laugh out loud moments providing a lot and even Manchester and Wainscott’s romance is engaging even as it veers into over-the-top territory but it never feels like Roofman is at home within itself as Cianfrance tries to add a new type of film to his usually straight-laced C.V.

Dealing with a story that would be almost too hard to believe if it weren’t in fact grounded in lot of unbelievable reality, Tatum and Cianfrance quite clearly invested a lot into this bizarre crime fuelled adventure and after a few lean years it’s great to see Tatum strike a chord again in a leading man role, while at the same time it’s great to see Cianfrance back behind the camera after showing so much with his incredible early features Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines.

Becoming a frustrating experience despite it drifting mainly between entertaining and gripping, it’s not hard to see why Roofman got lost in the crowd on its initial release around the globe and while there’s sure to many that find and enjoy this well-meaning tale, it’s hard to imagine many will be thinking too much upon this film that harbors a wildly unforgettable true story at its core.

Final Say –

There’s some fun to be had from Roofman, including getting to watch a great cast play off one another and Cianfrance shining a light on a highly unique criminal at work but there’s a magic ingredient missing from this often-uneasy mix of drama and comedy that will lead it to be forgotten before too long.

3 tense test drives out of 5