Film Review: ROOFMAN (2025): Channing Tatum is Exceptionally Intriguing in a Down-to-Earth Love Story

Roofman Review

Roofman (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Derek Cianfrance, written by Kirt Gunn and Derek Cianfrance and starring Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, LaKeith Stanfield, Ben Mendelsohn, Juno Temple, Tony Revolori, Kirana Kuic, Gabriella Cila, Alissa Marie Pearson, Esme McSherry, Melonie Diaz, Molly Price and Javier Molina.

Director Derek Cianfrance’s new romantic comedy, Roofman, has a darker edge than your typical love story. In the film, Channing Tatum portrays the real-life character of Jeffrey Manchester, a man who robbed a lot of McDonald’s stores in an attempt to gather cash together to help support his estranged young daughter. As the film opens, Jeffrey proves to be a “nice” robber as he gives his own coat to the store manager when he puts him and a female store worker in a freezer until Jeffrey flees the scene and calls the cops. When Jeffrey hides out at a large toy store and learns a way to sleep there, he meets his match when he befriends a talented, but struggling, female toy store worker named Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst is back in top form).

Roofman is centered on the criminal role played by Tatum. Jeffrey is a desperate man who brings a poor choice of boy-themed toy to his daughter on her birthday when she actually wants a bicycle. After Jeffrey actually gets the bike for her, he gets arrested right after giving it to her. Jeffrey escapes from prison thanks to his impeccable attention to small details and winds up at the toy store, sleeping there while manipulating the store’s camera system and figuring out the manager (a great Peter Dinklage)’s computer password.

Dunst’s character, Leigh, has two young daughters and a rocky past so when she meets the kind and energetic Jeffrey, she’s lifted up and feels better about herself. Leigh and Jeffrey have sex together and Jeffrey befriends Leigh’s two daughters who are a tad bit suspicious about Jeffrey’s motivations for dating their mom. In a hilariously funny scene, Jeffrey takes a car for a test drive, and the dealer is seated in the car with Leigh and one of her daughters in the back. The wildly unpredictable Jeffrey speeds the car up, making the audience think he may be trying to plan an escape. I’ll leave it to you to see how the scene develops.

However, the funniest scene in the film comes when Dinklage’s character stays late at the toy store one night and Jeffrey is bathing naked in the store not knowing the manager is present. Dinklage catches Jeffrey in the buff which ensues in a chase scene within the store with Jeffrey running around in his birthday suit all over the store.

There are some truly romantic scenes between Dunst and Tatum since the stars have a great deal of chemistry together which comes across as genuinely sweet more than anything else. Dunst’s character, who has a master’s degree, has truly found someone she likes in Jeffrey which complicates an already delicate situation.

Co-starring in the film is LaKeith Stanfield as Steve, Jeffrey’s friend, who tries to get Jeffrey out of his difficult living situation by getting him fake ID’s so he can fly out of the country and get a new identity. Stanfield’s role offers fine support to the movie in some of the more interesting and realistic scenes in the picture.

This film often rests on the comedy found in the premise and is further enhanced by the suspense towards the end of the picture as Jeffrey must make a choice between returning to the woman he has fallen in love with or flee the country altogether and start anew.

Roofman is well-directed and fun to watch from beginning to end. Though, at slightly over two hours, it does feel a bit padded in terms of having too many scenes with Tatum’s character hanging out in the toy store after hours. I thought the movie was better when it focused on the love story between Dunst and Tatum rather than when it centered on him robbing stores and sleeping in the toy store. There’s also an uneasiness about the mix of action and comedy that manifests itself in some of the robbery scenes. Never mind. Dunst and Tatum are almost perfect together and, as a result, they save the day with their performances.

In the end, Roofman is a powerful reminder of the need to focus on our own realities and to make the most of them rather than trying to chase financial dreams which will probably never come true. Obtaining those dreams the way Jeffrey tries to is, alas, nothing short of illegal anyway. This is a crime doesn’t pay story that has an edge to it thanks to the charm and depth found in the love story. There’s a heartbreaking side to this tale that makes it far from a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy and the actors are more than up to the task of keeping the audience entertained. Dinklage, in particular, has a very good time with the mean boss role and the scene with him and a nude Tatum running around the toy store is worth the price of admission in and of itself. It’s great to see Dunst working again too.

Rating: 7/10

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