'Roofman' trailer: Channing Tatum is a fugitive in a toy store in Derek Cianfrance's new film

Paramount and Miramax sent the internet into a spiral of delight yesterday when they released the trailer for the long-awaited Roofman, starring Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, and Peter Dinklage. The film is based on a true story following former Army Ranger Jeffrey Manchester, who notoriously robbed restaurants in the McDonald’s chain by cutting holes in their roofs to make ends meet, earning him the moniker ‘Roofman’.

Playing an escaped convict who lived in the American chain store Toys ‘R’ Us for six months evading capture, Tatum appears to bring the right amount of whimsy hilarity and tragedy to the story, carefully treading the rare lines between offbeat comedy, quiet romance, and crime drama along with the rest of the admirable ensemble, with the trailer opening with a sequence of him roller-skating around the store.

 

In portraying Manchester, Tatum seems to maintain his peculiarly charming character throughout the progression of the story, as he commits his infamous robberies and builds a secret life inside a North Carolina toy store, roller-skating after hours and surviving on candy and baby food. The trailer also reveals a tender side to the movie as he forms a connection with Leigh Wainscott, played by Kirsten Dunst, a single mother who works at the store. 

 

With the bones of a crime story but the heart of a romantic-comedy, there are multiple heart-warming moments, including one where Tatum’s character donates a sackful of toys (of course, after having stolen them from the store), and another one where he gives his coat up to the manager at a McDonald’s he was robbing (ignoring the fact that he was robbing them).

 

Cianfrance, known for emotionally raw films, seems to be playing with genres with Roofman, blending tension, humour, and melancholy into a harmonious tone impossible to pin down to one quality, in a style that is even harder to ignore. There is something so unusual about this story, but despite it, or perhaps because of it, it is also inherently, completely, and unapologetically human. If the trailer can serve as an indication of any kind, the film seems to veer between part-action, part-melancholy, part-humour, and part-love story, to form an unpredictable anomaly that can only be decoded once experienced for the first time.

 

The ensemble cast includes Peter Dinklage, Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Aduba, Lily Collias, and Jimmy O. Yang. 

 

Roofman is set to hit theatres on October 10, 2025. 

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