Director Derek Cianfrance returns to the big screen after a nine-year hiatus with Roofman, a wholly entertaining and thought-provoking dramedy. Channing Tatum stars as Jeffrey Manchester, a former U.S. military veteran and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants, 45 in total, in a desperate attempt to support his family. Eventually Manchester is arrested and sentenced to several decades in prison. However, Manchester manages to escape years later and stumbles upon the most unlikely hiding spot: inside a Toys “R” Us in Charlotte, North Carolina.
When I walked into the Roofman screening at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. To be completely honest, the trailer didn’t leave the strongest impression. It looked like the kind of film that might be amusing enough but ultimately forgettable. I’m happy to report that impression was wrong. Roofman isn’t just the standout of all the films that I saw this year at TIFF, but the biggest surprise of the year.
As a longtime admirer of Derek Cianfrance’s work (loved Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines), I was nervous about this film given the tone seen in the trailer. Roofman really felt like a major departure from Cianfrance’s previous work, and I was uncertain about whether or not he could pull off the comedic elements since the majority of his work has been dark and dramatic. We often try not to put filmmakers in boxes, but with certain directors, once you’ve seen enough of their work, you develop expectations.
Cianfrance, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kirt Gunn, understood exactly what he needed to do in order to bring Manchester’s life to the big screen. Roofman is a genuine crowd-pleaser that carries a quiet and lingering sadness beneath the surface. The script often feels like a tightrope act, with Cianfrance, Gunn and the cast finding a perfect balance between comedy and drama without leaning too far in either direction. The result is a touching and poignant film that tugs at the heartstrings one moment and delivers laughter the next, all while posing a very interesting question: Can good people do bad things?
Channing Tatum is perfectly cast as Jeffrey Manchester and serves as the heart of the film. I’ve always admired his work, but this performance feels tailor-made for him. He appears in nearly every scene, carrying the weight of the story on his shoulders. His performance is the perfect combination of charm, vulnerability, and sincerity. Within the first fifteen minutes, Tatum has the audience completely on his side. The real Jeffrey Manchester is often described as a criminal with a heart of gold, and no one could have captured that complexity more convincingly than Tatum. This performance deserves to be part of the Best Actor conversation. It is a subtle and challenging role, one he handles with impressive nuance. This could very well be the finest work of his career.
That brings me to Kirsten Dunst, who plays Leigh Wainscott, a recently divorced mother of two working at the Toys “R” Us. Dunst, like Tatum, is immediately likable. Leigh is a woman quietly searching for purpose and connection, and her warmth is felt in every scene. She takes joy in encouraging her more timid coworkers to stand up for themselves, revealing a quiet strength behind her laidback demeanor. Dunst and Tatum have natural chemistry, and watching their relationship evolve is one of the film’s many highlights.
My favorite moments in Roofman are the ones where Jeffrey interacts with others. He is so likable that nearly everyone he meets develops a soft spot for him. Some of the film’s strongest scenes come when Manchester, posing as John, builds relationships with Leigh’s daughters and the people at her church. In these moments, the audience begins to feel deep sympathy for him, because it becomes clear he isn’t truly a bad person. He wants to do the right thing, but his choices are often misguided. There’s a strong survival instinct within Manchester, yet he is also a man constantly yearning to help others, almost like a modern-day Robin Hood, robbing from the rich to give to the poor.
I find Jeffrey Manchester’s story to be fascinating, and Cianfrance and his team absolutely do it justice. The film is engrossing and entertaining from beginning to end. And, as I mentioned earlier, it relies entirely on Tatum’s performance, and he pulls it off completely. In some ways, even though the story centers on Jeffrey Manchester, it feels personal to Tatum, as if he saw a part of himself reflected in Manchester. I have enjoyed a lot of films this year but Roofman ranks up there amongst the very best that I’ve seen. It will certainly be in my top 10 of the year and is something that I hope audiences do seek out because Roofman is an absolute must-see.
Grade: 9 out of 10
Awards Buzz: The Best Actor field keeps getting more and more crowded by the day but I do believe Channing could be a contender with the right push. I do think that Channing is pretty loved by those in the industry so his natural charm could help land him the nomination. I think in a perfect world, we would see this in Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture also. I don’t know if those will end up happening but I do think that Paramount should try.
