Roofman exists as a true-crime comedy that wants to walk the tightrope of highlighting the humanity and the stupidity of an unorthodox criminal. Jeffrey Manchester was noted as a rooftop thief for his ability to drop in from above to rob McDonald’s locations, treating the employees with care while he swiped from the safe. The film doesn’t shy away from Jeffrey’s situation of being a down-on-his-luck veteran who can’t find work and bitterly watches his family abandon him. And yet it’s a picture that also wants us to smirk at his comical cleverness of hiding inside a Toys R Us store, monitoring the employees, and living on a diet of the store’s M&Ms.

Surprisingly, the best thing about the film is Channing Tatum in the role of Jeffrey. As easy as it could be to wield this outsider as a dopey criminal who says dumb things, director Derek Cianfrance frames the character with intelligent ideas and emotional depth. There has to be some admiration for a criminal who not only robbed from so many McDonald’s, but found a genius way to escape prison when he was caught. It’s easy to feel for this guy through Tatum’s natural presence of being charming around children and silently mournful when alone. It’s enough to make me want to crave a deeper exploration of how military service and the capitalist system ultimately led to this guy ripping off the home of the Big Mac at gunpoint.

Of course, the film wants to find some levity in the situation, and there’s plenty to be had when Jeffrey goes on the lam and shacks up in the corners of Toys R Us. His nights of contemplation and finding a means of escaping the state take a backseat in the second act when he grows infatuated with the sweet employee Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), a single mom so devoted to good that she spends time helping the church. The two of them meet at the holy building and soon hit off a romance that is so overtly sentimental that it nearly changes the entire tone of the picture. The desire for Jeffrey to pursue this relationship despite being a wanted man makes sense, seeing this as another chance at having a family and reattaining what he feels he can never get back. But the film spends so much time stewing on these heartfelt moments that it becomes almost jarring to return to the crime plot.

This is somewhat understandable given how the romantic chemistry between Tatum and Dunst is the best dynamic, as opposed to the bookended exchanges of the other characters. Jeffrey’s only associate who knows the real him is the fellow veteran Steve (LaKeith Stanfield), who is present more for scrutinizing looks and access to passports. Jeffrey also takes an interest in fighting back against Leigh’s cartoonishly evil manager, Mitch (Peter Dinklage), but there isn’t much room for messing with this guy beyond some schedule tinkering with no payoff for his reactions. Even the inclusion of Ben Mendelsohn as the chipper pastor feels like he’s present primarily to meet a heartwarming smile quota rather than to add anything to this story aside from some gospel numbers.

In the film’s attempt to balance Jeffrey as a charming love interest and clever clown, I prefer the love interest, if only because the comedic approach would devalue so much of this fugitive’s plight. There’s so much the film could explore with Jeffrey being devalued by his government, losing his family, and seeking a chance to have one last chance at a life he was robbed of achieving. But there’s always this cautious distance from those grander topics, keeping this film uncomfortably lighthearted, despite its tonal shifts here and there. The film would rather not lament the unfortunate situation and find the funny in him showering inside a Toys R Us bathroom. Much like Jeff’s secretive stay in the retail store, it’s a fun that won’t last, weaving a dramedy of severely mixed feelings in how much humor can be taken away from a film that only tangentially reminds you of the catharsis.

Roofman has moments of charm but lacks moments that make the true story seem more grounded. The most admirable aspect of the film is that it doesn’t turn into a full-blown comedy where we’re meant to completely laugh at a man so down on his luck that he had to steal for approval and survival. But as the film settles into the nearly cozy romance between Tatum and Dunst, there’s always that shadow looming over the sentimentality, with the darkness of eroding veteran rights and an unjust capitalist system deftly booming in the distance like a passing thunderstorm. We all want to enjoy the moment before it comes crashing down. Roofman tries to turn up the music loud enough to fight off the existential dread, filling that gap with toys and tenderness, where a fine performance by Tatum can only do much in a film that can’t quite become a comedy of crime and romance.