Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Roofman Draws Strong Reviews, Raises Questions Over True-Story Liberties

Critics highlight Channing Tatum’s performance, with praise tied to Derek Cianfrance’s extensive interviews with Jeffrey Manchester.

Overview

  • The film is in theaters after a U.S. opening reported around $8 million on a roughly $19 million budget, with international releases rolling out this month.
  • Directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Channing Tatum, the movie dramatizes Jeffrey Manchester’s McDonald’s roof break-ins and his post-escape hideout in a Toys “R” Us.
  • Cianfrance says he spoke with Manchester for roughly 400 hours over several years, shaping a character study that foregrounds a welcoming church community.
  • Coverage notes factual compressions and changes, including how Leigh Wainscott and Manchester first met, the depiction of his arrests, and the omission of the adjacent Circuit City hideaway.
  • Reviews broadly commend Tatum and the film’s tone, even as discussion continues over its sympathetic framing of a real criminal who remains incarcerated with release projected around 2036.