Manchester's life of crime began in November 1998 when he started traveling the country and robbing McDonald's locations by cutting holes in their notoriously flimsy roofs in the middle of the night, waiting until the employees working the opening shift arrived and then after ushering them into the walk-in freezer at gunpoint, made out with all of the cash in the register. Manchester is believed to have robbed somewhere in the range of 40-60 McDonald's before being apprehended in North Carolina in May 2000. He was convicted of robbing two McDonald's shortly after and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
What happened in the next chapter of Manchester's criminal career is somehow even crazier. In June 2004, he broke out of Brown Creek Correctional Institution in Polkton, North Carolina by hiding in the undercarriage of a delivery truck that frequently delivered materials to the prison metal shop in which he worked. After his successful escape, he hitchhiked to Charlotte and took up residence in the backroom of a Toys "R" Us location and survived on nothing but the food and drinks that were in the store (mostly candy, baby food and water) and stole merchandise to pawn off to make some cash while he laid low. Eventually, he backs off his plan to simply hide in the shadows by venturing into public under the alias of "Jeff Zorn"-a divorced man from New York City with a classified government job during the day before returning to his Toys "R" Us hideout at night. "Jeff" gets so comfortable with his new identity that he even begins to date a divorced mother of two named Leigh Wainscott that he meet through a Presbyterian Church he started to attend. After several months of bliss as "Jeff Zorn" and a series of boneheaded mistakes that tipped off the authorities to his whereabouts, Manchester got apprehended again in January 2005 and is currently expected to be in jail until at least 2036.
A story like this is completely unique in the world of true crime as it's not only brazen and stranger-than-fiction but focuses on someone that doesn't display the typical behavior of a serial thief (many of the employees from the McDonald's Manchester robbed pointed out his gentle demeanor and the kindness he showed them during the robberies). This hook made Manchester's story an ideal candidate to receive a full-blown dramatized movie treatment, and it got one in Roofman.
Roofman isn't a simple play-by-play of what Manchester-who is portrayed here by Channing Tatum-did during this uh, eventful period of his life. In fact, only about a quarter of the film is dedicated to his crimes and prison break. What co-writer/director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) is more interested in Manchester's relationship with Wainscott-who is played by Kristen Dunst. It's a great way to center humanity in this telling of the story as their relationship represents a sign of hope for both parties. For Manchester, it's a second chance at domestic bliss after his ex-wife (Melonie Diaz) and kids cut off contact with him after he got sent to prison against his wishes. For Wainscott, it's an eagerness to find love again after finally getting out of a loveless marriage of nearly 20 years. For a while, their relationship is really lovely and provides them both with exactly what they needed at that moment in time. When the brutal truth comes out about that "Jeff Zorn" is just a facade covering up the sins of Manchester, it's heartbreaking as the lie that their relationship was built on did indeed have real feelings of love and healing sitting right below its dishonest surface. Tatum and Dunst do a really tremendous job of making their character's intentions feel pure and both the highs and lows of their whirlwind relationship pack a sincere emotional punch that is grounded in reality.
The other aspect of Roofman that is really fascinating is the portrayal of Manchester himself. There's a version of this movie where the harshness of reality is removed and he's just a nice guy caught in a shitty situation beyond his control. What Cianfrance and Tatum do instead is make him an affable guy deserving of empathy without bending over backwards to exonerate him of his crimes. This balancing act is exactly why Tatum was such perfect casting for Cianfrance's telling of Manchester's story. As Manchester's army buddy/fake ID-related documents supplier Steve (LaKeith Stanfield) says to him near the end of the film, Manchester cares too much about other people to be a good criminal. Tatum embodies the spirit of that line fully by being a really charming, genuine guy whose bad decisions caused him to hurt people he cares about, and he now has to forever live with the far-reaching consequences of his actions. Redemption just never comes as easy as Manchester hopes it will and despite probably knowing that deep down, his continued pursuit of it is what ultimately lands him back in jail. It's really a story of writing your tragic fate above all else and that's not a text that very many people outside of Cianfrance would've elected to explore in a story that has so many absurd/insane elements to it.
As "true crime" stories continue to populate screens of all sizes in the years to come, here's to hoping that more projects will be able to find the human side to these stories that's usually pushed aside in favor of sensationism and exploitation. Admittedly, that will be a hard ask for stories that lack the clear pathway that Roofman has into exploring these things and a writer/director with the emotional honesty of Cianfrance bringing it to life. But there's something particularly rewarding and almost refreshingly old-fashioned about using the plights and feelings of real people as the driver of these crazy stories that could help turn this subgenre into something more meaningful moving forward.
Grade: B
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