Roofman

Derek Cianfrance (writer/director of Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines, and The Light Between Oceans) brings the true story of the notorious nice-guy-stick-up-man Jeffrey Manchester to the big screen (well, kinda, this is an Apple TV+ release, so I'm not sure how many actual "big screens" it played on). Channing Tatum slimmed down considerably to play the divorced former U.S. Army veteran from North Carolina, who turns to a life of crime in order to provide for his three young children. Jeffrey's M.O. was to rob places like McDonnell's, breaking in through the roof and locking unsuspecting employees in the freezer. He earned the nickname "The Roofman" for his means of entry; his genial approach to armed robbery earned him the reputation of an extremely nice and polite criminal; and his unique ability to notice details and exploit routines enabled him to evade capture for two years and over forty robberies. Still, he was eventually captured and sentenced to decades in prison.

Much of that backstory is illustrated here and narrated in voiceover, but the main thrust of the picture concerns Jefrry's successful escape from prison, his hiding out in a Toys "R" Us store, and his creation of a new identity. He eventually becomes a member of a local church and starts a romance with a church member who works at the Toys "R" Us where he lives. Kirsten Dunst plays Jeffrey's new girlfriend, a single mom to two girls named Leigh Wainscott. Dunst brings all her screen charisma and integrity to a role that could have come off as difficult to swallow in the hands of a lesser actress.

Rooffman is one of those movies where a lot of what unfolds stretches credibility. Bad examples of this kind of movie fall back on the "But That Actually Happened!" defense to explain away events that come off as contrived or patently false. That defence never works because even the most meticulously researched docudrama, which adheres as closely as possible to the facts, is a fictionalization that must create its own credible reality. Cianfrance and his co-writer Kirt Gunn do a pretty good job of this. And they're ably assisted by a strong supporting cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dinklage, Juno Temple, Ben Mendelsohn, and Uzo Aduba.

Movies in which the protagonist is under constant threat of capture yet manages to lie low, hide out, and live in relative calm for the bulk of the story are always appealing. From Humphrey Bogart in Dark Passage and Cary Grant in Talk of the Town to George Clooney in Out of Sight and Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni in Down by Law, I always enjoy this type of narrative. I think the first time I was conscious that this was a crime movie sub-genre unto itself was Hiding Out, a small 1987 romantic-comedy-thriller in which Jon Cryer plays a stockbroker who passed bogus bonds for a mobster and, in order to evade getting murdered by a hitman, disguises himself as a teenager, registers himself at a high school, and quickly becomes the most popular student in the class.

As with most movies in the "hiding out" sub-genre, one's enjoyment of the picture depends greatly on how much you like that main character and how much you root for them to successfully evade capture and enjoy the new life they're creating for themselves, despite the moral implications of their crimes and the deceit they usually must employ when getting romantically involved with a partner who is kept in the dark about their true identiy. I could watch Tatum and Dunst for hours, and I appreciated the number of scenes devoted to how Jeffrey inserts himself into Leigh's life and family. There are aspects of his fake identity that make him seem like an ideal guy, but then multiple red flags from his true persona surface, giving Leigh pause. Roofman is a lightweight entertainment that fully justifies its over two-hour running time; it would be a vastly inferior picture at 99 minutes. Still, it also feels appropriate as a direct-to-streaming movie because, despite being shot on 35mm in widescreen, everything about it plays like a TV movie. A good TV movie, but a TV movie nonetheless.