In the late 1990s, Jeffrey Manchester devised an unusual plan of criminal activity that led to an even more remarkable attempt to avoid capture. Manchester’s tale becomes the basis of 2026’s Roofman.

After a stint in the military, Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) struggles to provide for his wife Talana (Melonie Diaz) and kids. With a talented eye for detail, he uses his skills to rob multiple McDonald’s locations via their roofs, activities that lead to his arrest and incarceration.

When Jeffrey escapes prison, he goes on the lam and ends up living in a hidden section of a Toys R Us. While he waits long enough to let the police lose his scent and permit him to leave the country, Jeffrey falls for TRU employee Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst) and embarks on an improbable – and risky – secret life.

After I watched Roofman, I dug into the facts behind this fictionalized tale. Given what I’d seen, I assumed the movie took extensive liberties.

To my surprise, Roofman sticks reasonably close to the actual events. Of course it deviates from reality in some ways but it does so much less often than I figured.

That stems from the manner in which Roofman just seems absurd so much of the time. Maybe truth is stranger than fiction, but it can become tough to swallow.

If I ignore this and view Roofman as a basic film, it fares… okay. While it becomes moderately entertaining, it never quite clicks into a groove.

Director Derek Cianfrance feels like an odd choice to lead this project. He comes from an indie world that leaned toward more dramatic fare, and Roofman seems as though it needs a lighter touch.

Indeed, it seems odd that the powers that be went with an “R” rating for Roofman. Though it comes with some minor nudity and violence, it earns the “R” mainly due to profanity.

Which it doesn’t need. Cianfrance seems wholly unsure what kind of movie he wants to make, as Roofman veers from serious character piece to family comedy in the blink of an eye.

Maybe someone else could pull off these tonal shifts, but Cianfrance can’t. He lacks the lightness necessary for the rom-com side of the tale so those moments come across as forced.

In reality, I think those elements should dominate, as Roofman just feels more appropriate as fluffier fare. Cianfrance desperately wants to make the story Meaningful and Important, but the end result lacks depth or much impact.

This seems like a shame because the core story remains compelling. Manchester’s criminal career comes with ample opportunity to prosper and it doesn’t need the filmmakers’ attempts to add to it.

Which leaves me with my feeling Roofman would work best if it accentuated the goofiness, factors abetted by the cast. While Tatum boasts range as an actor, he satisfies most when he highlights his natural charm and his comedic chops.

In addition to Dunst, we find solid performers like LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dunklage and Ben Mendelsohn. All do fine in their parts, though they seem restricted by the movie’s tone-related issues.

I don’t want to knock Roofman too much, as it does remain a perfectly watchable affair. It just doesn’t fulfill the potential of its subject matter.

Footnote: archival footage of the events behind the movie’s story run during the end credits.

Roofman appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not a dazzling presentation, the image largely satisfied.

Sharpness could lean a little tentative at times, but I chalked that up to photographic choices, as I got the impression the filmmakers wanted to give the movie a “throwback” vibe. Overall definition worked fine, however, so I didn’t think the occasionally loose photography turned into a drawback.

Neither jagged edges nor moiré effects became a concern, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to manifest, and the 35mm source offered appropriate grain.

Like most modern movies, Roofman opted for a palette that leaned blue/teal and amber. These choices seemed less than creative but the disc presented them in a positive manner.

Blacks appeared deep and dense, while shadows offered good clarity. The occasional softness almost made me knock down my grade to a “B”, but enough of the image looked solid for a “B+”.

Unsurprisingly, this character drama/comedy opted for a fairly low-key Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. That didn’t make it a bad mix, though, as it suited the story.

Dialogue and music dominated the track, and effects usually focused on general environmental information. A few scenes kicked to life more actively – usually when law enforcement entered the picture – but the soundscape mostly stayed reserved.

Audio quality held up fine, with speech that appeared natural and distinctive. Music showed appealing range and dimensionality.

Though effects usually stayed in the background, those elements nonetheless came across as accurate and robust. While nothing about the soundtrack impressed, it still worked fine for the narrative.

When we head to extras, we find a few featurettes. Based on Actual Events and Terrible Decisions lasts 13 minutes, 49 seconds and offers notes from writer/director Derek Cianfrance, producers Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof and Lynette Howell Taylor, writer Kirt Gunn, and actors Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, and Channing Tatum.

The program examines the project's roots and path to the screen, research and the screenplay, casting and performances. It offers good background about these domains.

Chasing the Ghosts runs 11 minutes, 36 seconds. It brings comments from Tatum, Cianfrance. Dunst, Taylor, Patricof, Orlovsky, Gunn, Dinklage, truck driver Charles Cummings, actors Lily Collias and Ben Mendelsohn, and director of photography Andrij Parekh.

We learn about Cianfrance's approach as director along with locations. the use of "real people" in some small roles and other acting decisions. Though some of "Ghosts" leans toward praise for Cianfrance, we get plenty of substance as well.

Next comes A Good Place to Hide. It spans nine minutes, 22 seconds and involves Cianfrance, Dunst, Taylor, Tatum, Dinklage, and production designer Inbal Weinberg.

Via "Hide", we learn about how the production took an abandoned Toys R Us and made it look like a location from the 1990s. Expect a quality view of these challenges.

Driving Lesson occupies two minutes, 59 seconds and features Dunst, Cianfrance and Tatum as they talk about one particular scene. It seems too short to give us much but it provides a few decent notes.

For the final featurette, we locate the one-minute, 20-second Choir Practice as it shows rehearsal footage. This seems forgettable.

Six Deleted Scenes and one Alternate Scene take up a total of eight minutes, 27 seconds. These mix some comedic beats along with a few minor expository moments. Nothing crucial appears but a few offer value.

A depiction of a genuinely nutty true story, the basics of Roofman ensure that we stick with it. However, it doesn’t manage to live up to the possibilities presented by the subject matter, so it becomes an erratic tale. The Blu-ray comes with largely positive picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. Roofman kept me moderately engaged but it didn’t click as well as I’d hoped.

Note that this Blu-ray only comes paired with the movie’s 4K UHD version. Paramount chose not to release a solo Blu-ray for Roofman.

This means Blu-ray fans without 4K UHD players will need to buy this package to get the movie’s BD.