Is there such a thing as a thief with a heart of gold?  This is a question posed by today’s film, Roofman.  It begins with the claim that everything you are about to see is true, as in it actually happened.  Based on the cursory research I did on the subject, this supposition does not seem farfetched.  Further, interviews of the actual people portrayed in the film give one a sense of its authenticity.  If you ask those who were close to main character Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), as well as those he robbed, they say that he was the one of the nicest persons they met.  According to law enforcement, he is a pathological liar willing to do or say anything to get what he wants.  I am not sure the movie gives a definitive answer one way or another on that initial question.  What I can say is that God sees our heart and is the only one who can judge us properly.  That is enough for me, but it is not enough for Jeffrey.

We see early on what Jeffrey is willing to do to get what he thinks he needs by becoming the Roofman in the opening scene.  The title refers to his penchant for breaking into buildings through the top.  As he discusses in the narration, he knows he is doing wrong, but feels pushed to it by circumstances.  Being divorced, he tries to do right by his daughter, Becky (Alissa Marie Pearson), and twin toddler sons.  However, the United States Army veteran is having trouble making ends meet as evidenced by Jeffrey giving Becky his old erector set for her birthday instead of the bike she wanted.  When he brings them to meet their mother, Talana (Melonie Diaz), she hints at not allowing him to see his children anymore unless he does better.  Recently, his military friend, Steve (LaKeith Stanfield), pointed out that Jeffrey’s one true skill is his power of observation.  Thus, Jeffrey puts them to use, staking out the McDonald’s in whose parking lot he is sitting in order to formulate the plan that brings him onto the roof.  After breaking into over forty fast food restaurants in this manner, he has enough money to give Becky and Talana everything they want.  While he is able to give his daughter the bicycle she wanted, the police show up to arrest him at the same time.  In the scattered moments Jeffrey gets to talk to Becky, it becomes evident that not only does Talana want to sever communication but that he is being replaced.  Desperate once more, Jeffrey hatches a plan to escape from prison and is successful in its execution.  His first move is to try to visit Becky, but he gets only as close as he can to observe her from afar.  While on the lam, he gets spooked by a nearby patrolman and heads for the closest business, which so happens to be a Toys R’ Us.  Though the manager, Mitch (Peter Dinklage), reminds him that they are soon closing, he hides in the bathroom, eventually going up into the crawl space above the ceiling tiles to avoid detection.  After existing there for a couple days, he learns to switch off the security cameras’ recording function, giving him free rein of the store.  While roaming about, he detects a dead space behind the bicycle display which he proceeds to set up as his new home.  In the process, he gives himself a month before his face will stop being in the news.  However, this timeline is stretched when he finally attempts to make contact with Steve, who is able to make false identification papers for him.  Talking to Steve’s girlfriend, Michelle (Juno Temple), Jeffrey learns that his friend will be out of town for months.  As such, it is time to settle in for a while.  For entertainment, he rigs baby monitor cameras in some key places so that he can observe what the Toys R’ Us employees are doing.  The one who draws his attention is Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst).  At one point, she goes to Mitch’s office to request toys for her church’s charity drive.  Mitch denies her request, so Jeffrey takes up his own collection and drops it off at her place of worship.  He had been about to leave when one of the members spots him and all but drags him inside.  After the service, while talking to Pastor Ron Smith (Ben Mendelsohn), Jeffrey is officially introduced to Leigh.  Jeffrey is invited to a singles event the church is hosting at the local Red Lobster, but he only agrees to go if the recently divorced Leigh will attend.  From there, their relationship turns physical surprisingly quickly for a woman so committed to her church.  Still, I cannot claim Catholics are perfect in this department.  Either way, the attraction is mutual, so he works on winning over her two daughters.  The youngest, Dee Wainscott (Kennedy Moyer), is easier, with a video game as a gift doing the trick.  The self-described “emotionally distant” teenager Lindsay Wainscott (Lily Collias) proves more difficult.  Jeffrey is undeterred, though, and he is building a new life until he is caught one night by Mitch bathing in the bathroom.  Jeffrey is able to get back to his hiding place before the cops arrive, but he overhears them telling him to turn on the security camera recordings and that they will provide extra security with the upcoming holidays.  With this in mind, he is finally able to get a hold of Steve, who promises to help.  However, it will cost extra, particularly because it is evident that Jeffrey has been making some dangerous entanglements.  To come up with the additional money, Jeffrey decides to hold up the Toys R’ Us.  As he is about to make off with the money, he is spotted by Leigh.  They lock eyes, though she later tells the authorities that this did not happen.  Nonetheless, Jeffrey successfully flees and gets what he needs to travel to another country.  He is on the way to the airport when he gets a call from Leigh asking if he will be there for Christmas.  He cannot resist the invite, but it should come as no surprise that law enforcement is there waiting to arrest him.  Once back in jail, he is visited one last time by Leigh before the film ends.

As the Roofman settles into a prison term that will not make him eligible for parole until 2036, he tells a group of fellow inmates that he is where he should be.  Yet, a postscript mentions that he tried unsuccessfully to escape two more times.  Does that make Jeffrey a liar?  Or do we give him a pass because he treats people with compassion and respect?  In this way, I appreciate the words of the real-life Pastor Smith, who is interviewed during the end credits.  He says that the goal of a Christian is to treat everyone in a humane manner.  As a fellow Christian, but a Catholic one, I can take this idea a step further.  The Church teaches that not only should we follow the Golden Rule with everyone, but that we should also visits those who are incarcerated, something we refer to as one of the seven corporal acts of mercy.  But do we accord the same mercy to Jeffrey’s actions?  He makes a good point when he says, essentially, that he deserves to be in prison.  In this light, it is disappointing that he should try to more escape attempts, which would seem to make a liar of him.  On that note, Leigh makes a point that speaks to his falseness.  Even with Becky and Talana, his way of getting people to like him is to buy them things.  This worked for a time with his old family, but Leigh tells Jeffrey that he does not need to make such gestures.  All he has to do is be there for them.  That is the kind of love God has for all of us.  God does not need elaborate gifts.  A Scripture passage that underscores this is Mark 12:41-44 when Jesus points to an old widow who puts two coins into the collection, comparing it the contributions of the wealthy.  She gave all she had, whereas the others give a little, expecting some kind of recompense.  She trusts that God will redeem her in her poverty, content to simply be with Him.  There is no such trust for Jeffrey, and he pays the price for his actions.

One might say that demonstrating that there is a punishment for our actions, no matter how well intentioned, is the point of Roofman.  Put differently, you can be as polite as possible while robbing a person, but you are still a thief.  At the same time, I would not judge him too harshly.  Hopefully, this is enough for you to judge to give this film a chance, though do so after the kids are in bed.