Jeffrey Manchester was a particular thief who specialized in stealing (without stealing from himself…) McDonald’s thanks to the equally particular method of entry through the roof. Apparently, this is a real character who looted around forty-five fast food establishments. Fast flight. He … director Derek Ciafrancewho signed the magnificent romantic drama ‘Blue Valentine’ a few years ago, with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams‘lowers’ the story of this Jeffrey Manchester to a film as dramatic, as romantic, but dressed in certain comic tones due to the somewhat idiotic characteristics of the flights, the personality without malice of his character and the tone that Channing Tatum adopts to embody him, an actor who has difficulty transmitting ulterior motives but who here makes a perfect ‘unity’ with his Manchester.
The director and screenwriter ensures that the link with ‘Roofer” is easy and almost immediate and decorates him with all those qualities that make someone likable, among which, and not the most common in his profession, he is human, gentle, compassionate and treats his victims with the delicacy of a good civil servant. The plot has an agile development even when it stagnates inside a department store: there are concentrated a certain ingenuity of the scenario and the good gymnastics of the camera, also the creativity and resistance of the character so that time passes and the germ of a romantic story which gives meaning to the presence of Kirsten Dunst and the unique Peter Dinklage, who plays a character that is not difficult to hate.
Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst in ‘Roofman’
The story’s own plot, the thefts, charmingly intertwines with the love story and briefly leaves aside the police problems to bring to the fore certain conflicts of the heart, which further underlines the film’s desire to be loved: the personal appeal of Kristen Dunsthis mischief-making and dimple-rich gesticulations, along with Channing Tatum’s ability to act like a goose, give this episode of ‘Roofman’ enormous charm and that bittersweet spot so precious in these stories that entertained audiences worry about its obviously uncertain future.
In short, a drama with romantic and detective intrigues, with its touch of charm, humanism and humor which, however, clearly does not achieve maximum appeal, probably because its story, although bizarre, does not have those degrees of grandeur that make you a spectator its servant. Furthermore, their subjects of reflection are excessively humble, in the sense that they do not have great ambitions beyond the ‘be honest’, ‘be honest’ and ‘don’t fall into the absurdity of making lemonade just because life gives you lemons’…
For the rest, ‘Roofman: A thief on the roof» is a good example of how cinema sometimes disguises the betrayal of criminals and knows how to present them in their best light without the need for spokespersons, like political parties.
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