Roofman

Tried to not spoil anything in this review but it’s a slightly longer one so there’s probably something that is.  Tension: Will Jeff get caught? Will Jeff choose the family or safety? Theme: You can’t be someone you’re not really. Even crime with good intentions still affects people negatively. Your family just wants you, not things from you (last one was a bit on the nose with the narration) Writing: I’m honestly having a hard time coming up with ways this film could have improved, I really loved a lot of it. I was also surprised how wholesome this was and even religious at times. Even got a bit emotional at the end. There were a few moments that were predicable solely off of tone and music but it didn’t bother me much because it would still be slightly different than I guessed/imagined. A wonderful part about this movie is that you really have no idea how it’s going to end, it feels like there’s so many different options, and the fact that it’s a true story means the ending doesn’t have to be anything you would guess from story structure, although it somehow conforms to that near the end. There were so many parts of it though I was shocked were true when they had a little doc in the credits, specifically the dentist. But also how true they tried to stick to Jeff’s personality. There were so many little parallels in the film: hearing his daughter on the phone being tickled, then being mad at the electronic Elmo’s and beating them all up, the bicycle vs the beater, the erector set vs the Zelda Lego set, the first picture and the picture at the dealership, the innocence of his first crime vs the horror of his last crime, him and Leigh locking eyes during church the night before and then locking eyes at Toys R Us the next morning. What made this film great was that Jeff always had to step it up, even though at the beginning I was constantly saying to myself “oh that’s really smart” like the prison escape garb and the monitoring, he had to outdo himself as security and suspicion arose. There were a few things I wanted to see questioned a bit more that were happening at Toys R Us but looking at the big picture it wouldn’t be necessary. But ultimately it seemed like the end was his choice even if you argue that it wasn’t. There was just a lot of subtext that he knew and she knew. Some other moments that stuck out to me: the fact that he had 14 cavities from peanut m and m’s, lots of laughing at the shower runaway scene, the co-workers actually working and laughing together at the end (and Jeff low-key loving them), hating the ex-wife telling her daughter to always hang up the phone and her repeating that she was told he’s not coming back, the realness of the fight dialogue between Leigh and Lyndsey (plus the comment that started it being so horrendous to say to your mother) and saying things like “you can’t abuse him and then ask for favors” and the silent treatment. Felt like a real family with real problems. The only real thing holding me back from absolutely loving this film was there was no big “wow” for me, it was all a bit more subtle which was okay and good still, but maybe I was looking for that Oscar winning moment from Channing Tatum, he just didn’t break in a moment we really needed him to, maybe Christmas Eve. I guess that’s also the tricky part balancing a crime drom-com.  Acting: I haven’t seen a few key Channing Tatum movies but from what I have seen I think this has been his best role so far. There’s so much depth to his character, just the fact that you can see his conflict, that he really does want to be a good guy, he’s so easily likable and can almost convince you that the crimes he’s doing are okay, and his reactions to things that hit him a little harder and remind him of his family back home. I was surprised that he had his character be slightly flamboyant like at Red Lobster, I was thinking kinda the same thing Leigh said out loud in the parking lot but he also just rolled with assumptions about him, and had good timing for coming up with excuses that weren’t too quick and weren’t unbelievable. Leigh’s character was so forward at the beginning I was kinda shocked but she controlled it in a way where it wasn’t overwhelming at all. And her emotions were never too much, it felt like she was always trying to have more than one emotion when reacting to things which is impressive. Based on the end credits, they picked some great actors that matched real life like the McDonalds manager and the cop always hunting him down (who had some good arguments but it’s just so hard to not like Jeff and want to agree with his smaller choices).  Cinematography: Not a lot of moving shots for the tone of this film because he himself couldn’t move around much during some parts. It was kind of mirroring the monitor/security camera system he had in place. I don’t think there was anything too flashy, but there was some more camera movement and slower cuts when something suspenseful was about to happen, plus a darker tone in general.  Production Design: Wonderful job at recreating 2004, mainly at Toys R Us and things like Blockbuster video but still. This would be a really fun set to have worked on. Everything outside of that was pretty simple. I imagine the roof breaking scenes would have been pretty messy or difficult work timing. Sound: I remember distinctly him mopping the bathroom floor with his feet or something. Like that matching the music really well. Some fun Gospel music, and “No Room at the Inn” before the climax was a great choice symbolically.  Editing: said most of what I wanted to with cinematography.