Some stories sound too wild to be real, yet the moment the movie starts, you feel the truth behind them. Roofman is exactly that kind of film. It kicks off with this strange mix of “there’s no way this happened” and “wait… this actually did.” Right from the start, you can tell you’re not watching a simple heist movie or a regular crime story. You’re stepping into something that really happened, and the details are so unusual they could only come from real life.
The movie follows Jeffrey Manchester, a former soldier and dad of three who reaches a point where he starts robbing fast-food places by climbing in through the roofs. It’s a weird method, but it works so well that people eventually call him “Roofman.” He ends up getting caught and locked up, but later manages to escape. Once he’s out, he hides inside a huge retail store, slipping between storage rooms and empty spaces to survive without being noticed. As he tries to live this strange double life, the story starts asking bigger questions: Can someone fix the damage they’ve caused? Can they reconnect with people? Can they ever return to a normal life? What begins as a crime story slowly turns into something deeper a mix of survival, identity, and the small hope of starting over.
A lot of the movie’s power comes from Channing Tatum. He gives one of the most honest and open performances of his career. You can feel how much he’s grown as an actor. He lets the quiet moments breathe. He shows fear, hope, guilt, and confusion without making it dramatic or loud. You see every part of what this man is carrying, and it feels real in a way we haven’t seen from Tatum before. It might honestly be his best work yet.
The pacing helps too. The movie gets your attention fast, not by rushing but by staying alive every minute. Something is always happening a new situation, a new piece of tension, a new look inside Jeffrey’s head. The direction keeps you entertained while building a steady emotional link to the main character. Small moments are placed so carefully that you end up feeling connected to him before you even notice but did that last for the whole movie? well, no it didn’t towards the end of the second act it started to slow down a bit due to many factors we will talk about towards the end of this review.
The narration plays a huge part in this. It’s not the typical voice-over that explains everything. It feels personal, almost like Jeffrey is letting you into his thoughts. Paired with a simple but smart music choice, the movie builds a quiet emotional bridge between you and him. You don’t just watch what he’s going through you feel like you’re in that hidden world with him.
And then there’s the store. The idea of someone secretly living inside a giant toy-filled space hits something inside all of us. It reminds you of being a kid and imagining what it would be like to stay in a store overnight. But the movie flips that playful idea into something tense. The bright toys and colorful shelves suddenly feel comforting and scary at the same time. That mix gives the movie a strange, memorable energy.
At its heart, the film is about a man stuck between two lives. Movies have shown this kind of struggle before, but Roofman makes it feel fresh by focusing on small, everyday actions instead of big dramatic scenes. Through Tatum’s performance, you see the weight of wanting to be better while your past keeps dragging you backward. The film blends humor, sad moments, warm moments, and pure tension in a way that somehow works. You may laugh one minute and feel a heavy knot in your chest the next.
All through the movie, there’s this quiet question in the back of your mind: How is this going to end? Will he find a way out? Will things fall apart? Will he get the ending he’s reaching for? That nagging feeling keeps you involved the entire way.
The final stretch of the movie slows down. The first two acts are tight and exciting, but the ending takes its time. Some scenes feel a bit stretched, like the movie is trying to send a message or give emotional closure when it doesn’t fully need to. Honestly, ending just a bit earlier might have landed harder. But because you’ve grown so attached to Jeffrey, you stay with it and accept the softer pace.
The character development works well for the most part, though a few things in the last section feel slightly out of tune with who Jeffrey has shown himself to be. But that’s real life people don’t always act in perfectly consistent ways. Some of the supporting characters could have been sharper, but nothing takes away from the heart of the film.
The director balances grit with empathy. He doesn’t glorify the crimes, and he doesn’t make the escape look thrilling or heroic. The hiding inside the store isn’t played for laughs. Instead, the movie uses these bizarre events to explore loneliness, regret, and the desperate wish to start over. Because of that, the film feels raw, sometimes uneasy, but undeniably human.
By the time it ends, Roofman turns a wild true story into something genuinely emotional. It becomes a quiet reflection on second chances, on how far someone will go to fix their life, and on how messy that process can be. Tatum holds the whole thing together with a performance that feels real, grounded, and deeply affecting.
If you walk in expecting a flashy heist movie, you’ll get something very different. What you end up with is a strange, touching, sometimes uncomfortable look at a man trying to put his life back together. The movie doesn’t hand you easy answers, but it makes you think, and more importantly, it makes you feel. And that’s when you know a film has done its job.