Nothing inspires nostalgia for kids of the ’80s and ’90s quite like a Toys ‘R’ Us, and the first trailer for Roofman, an upcoming biopic of criminal Jeffrey Manchester, knows it.
Jeffrey Manchester—played by Channing Tatum—is an escaped prisoner on the run who seeks refuge in the sprawling, fluorescently-lit interior of everyone’s favorite childhood toy store. There, he finds a love interest in a benevolent employee played by Kirsten Dunst—her current defining characteristic is how intent she is on hosting a toy drive—and a potential ally in the cynical store manager played by Peter Dinklage, who is notably against the toy drive.
As expected, Roofman gets a lot of mileage out of its Toys ‘R’ Us setting as Manchester secretly lives there for an extended period: the iconic multicolored sign glows in a dark parking lot; Jeffreys skates across the tiled floor and stops in front of the arched blue entryway; Jeffrey rides a scooter into a pile of colorful inner tubes and other swimming pool paraphernalia. It’s a fun setting, but it has a bit of a sad tint, what with all the harsh lighting and the perpetual emptiness of the store, as if even in the world of the film the fun of Toys ‘R’ Us has passed its expiration date. For any kid that dreamed of never leaving the massive toy store, Roofman paints a depressing picture of what living there might actually look like.
The drabness of nostalgia gone slightly sour seems intentional, but the trailer also hints at some potential tonal confusion. For instance, exactly how seriously should we take this fictionalized version of Jeffrey Manchester? Is he a goofy, relatable weirdo who likes riding scooters or a criminal mastermind? From the trailer, it’s unclear—although more than Jeffrey Manchester himself, the film’s major draw seems to be the slightly grimy allure of a classic site of childhood nostalgia met with criminal activity.
Directed by Derek Cianfrance and written by Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn, Roofman is set to release on Oct. 10, 2025.
