COMIC DRAMA; 2hr 6min
STARRING: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, Ben Mendelsohn
Ham burglar: Tatum
“I made some bad choices,” master robber Jeffrey Manchester (Tatum) understates in an introductory voice-over to Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance’s loopy real-life saga. Jeffrey is attempting to explain why he, a self-described nice guy, would burglarise multiple McDonald’s stores over two years.
It’s a question worth asking, because the US Army vet is a nice guy. Granted, at his debut Maccas break-in in North Carolina, he locks its terrified team of three in their walk-in fridge at gunpoint before cleaning out their safe. But he also hands over his jacket to the shivering manager (Tony Revolori). And yes, he does clean out some 40-plus subsequent stores by breaking in through their roofs (hence his media nickname), albeit with the primary motive of providing for his over-it ex-wife (Melonie Diaz) and their three young children. Jeffrey Manchester is a nice guy whose lousy decisions saddle him in 2000, at 29 years old, with a 45-year prison sentence — which is when his history starts to qualify as incredible.
With trademark ingenuity, Jeff breaks out of jail in 2004. He then hunkers down for six months in a Charlotte Toys ‘R’ Us store, lying low with a resourcefulness you can’t help wishing he’d deployed in a more positive direction. When not marking time in his makeshift man cave, he joins a church community and begins a relationship with Toys staffer Leigh Wainscott (Dunst), whose sparky nature is guaranteed to beguile a guy — never mind that this guy is in no position to be beguiled…
For any underdog story to fly, the canine in question must be worth the investment. Tatum is in his empathic element there, his Jeffrey a courtly charmer all the morally compromised way. The supporting cast is a class act, as well, with Dinklage and Mendelsohn popping up as the Toys manager and a local pastor respectively. And if the story they’re there to serve is substantially larger than most people’s lives, its bottom line couldn’t be more basic. Accountability is never negotiable — no matter how nice you are.
