Roofman

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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Former US Army Reserve soldier Jeffrey Manchester is chiefly known for being a rooftop robber responsible for nearly 45 robberies of fast-food restaurants (mainly McDonald’s) around North Carolina. Manchester has repeatedly escaped and is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence at Central Prison in North Carolina.

Manchester’s eccentric story comes to life in “Roofman” by Derek Cianfrance (“Blue Valentine”) starring Channing Tatum.

Manchester (Tatum) strives to be a family man. He has three young children with his ex-wife Talana (Melonie Diaz). Manchester especially yearns to impress his young daughter Becky (Alissa Marie Pearson). Becky yearns for a bike. Manchester instead gives her an erector set, reasoning they can make something since he is an ill-equipped father.

Manchester is absent-minded and lackadaisical in his responsibility and Talana reaches her wit’s end with Manchester’s endless excuses.

Then as if by a spontaneous whim, Manchester cases a McDonald’s restaurant and learns how to enter from the roof and take money from the manager’s office. Quickly. Manchester acquires enough money for Becky‘s bicycle, and then some for her birthday party.

There is one problem: the police show up at the party.

Employing his crafty wiles, he escapes from a supply truck after a short prison term and manages to hole up undetected at a local Toys “R” Us store, oddly enough making the store his own living space, especially during afterhours.

Manchester is persona non grata regarding his own family, so he begins to construct a kind of fantasy life with store employee Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) as his love interest. Manchester learns store passwords, setting surprise advantages to Leigh’s work schedule.

Manchester is able to position himself so that he is noticed by Leigh regarding a toy drive, during a chance meeting with church organizer Kami (Kathryn Stamas) who is smitten by Manchester’s self-deprecating charm.

The handsome hunk with the mysterious past starts going to church and Leigh is hooked.

Actor Channing Tatum puts his likable persona to fine use here particularly when he is gentle and considerate to his burglary victims making sure, they are not unduly harmed, uncomfortable or afraid. When he loses his temper and strikes a worker, Manchester calls the authorities.

Manchester has a more shadowy side as witnessed by the tearing up of his ex-wife’s photo in family snapshots. For the most part however, Manchester is not a hardened criminal. He cares for his new girlfriend Leigh and her daughters.

Tatum’s criminal is tinged with Walt Disney and Forrest Gump. Manchester just wants the opportunity to be a good father. His only compulsion seems to be the need to escape against all odds. Otherwise, Manchester gets the “Most Courteous Criminal” award.

This is an even and entertaining portrait of a somewhat capricious and rebellious yet oddly sincere man who heads for the roof more often than Santa Claus. There is a hint of darkness to Manchester perhaps, but it is largely muted with a more pronounced emphasis on pranks and hijinks as illustrated by Channing Tatum’s Hollywood persona. The tongue in cheek handling of its subject nostalgically echoes the films of the 1980s, notably Spielberg, Zemeckis and John Hughes.

The actual Jeffrey Manchester is scheduled for release on December 4, 2036.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com