Sitting in the small Universal Theatrette, the thought struck me a tad too late: ‘what is this movie actually about?’
The title and the fact that it starred Channing Tatum were the only details I could recall, so when the lights dimmed and the opening shot of our leading man up on a store roof appeared I figured: ‘of course, Roofman, it must be about a man who fixes roofs…’
But then the camera continues to push in, and we see that the protagonist Jeffrey is in fact wearing a balaclava, and that the store is a McDonalds, and that the hammer in his hand is being used to break a hole into the roof, and as he jumps into McDonalds with a gun in hand a new thought crystallises: ‘Oh, I don’t think this about a man fixes roofs’.
As idiotic as that thought process may seem, it summarises the experience of watching Derek Cianfrance’s crime comedy film Roofman, which constantly puts your assumptions into question and leaves you dumbfounded by the equally stupid and genius logic behind the events that unfold steadily into chaos.
What followed after the opening scene were 2 hours of the most ingenious, unorthodox ways one can fathom to cheat the rules that society says we must abide by – and yet, as anti-establishment as that sounds, Jeffrey is still motivated by the consumeristic drive to impress his loved ones through expensive gifts that he simply can’t afford. At its core, it is a story about someone learning the value of their own time, and their own company.
Arguably the most impressive part of this whole film though, are the 5 words that appear in the very first frame: ‘This is a true story’. The true story of Jeffrey Manchester, former Army Ranger, who went on to earn the nickname of Roofman. Time and time again, the plot might make you question whether that statement was just a gimmick, but if this is the case I encourage you to watch stay until the end of the credits.
One more thing I should have mentioned by now, is the star-studded cast that hold our protagonist accountable, or steer him further in the wrong direction, all of whom are also based on real people in Jeffrey’s life. Kirsten Dunst acts as the only sane audience surrogate, playing the love interest/ToysRUs worker/church choir singer, Peter Dinklage as the ToysRUs manager whose character arc is truly humbling, Ben Mendelsohn as the most questionable church leader, and LaKeith Stanfield as the often absent best friend but everpresent influence leading Jeffrey astray.
As cunning as it is hilarious, this film will reel you in with its unbelievable premise and then leave you wondering: Is he a good guy? Are we the bad guys? What does McDonalds think? And why on earth did they agree to this movie?
Roofman is out in cinemas now!
Review By Franca Lafosse