Jeff (Channing Tatum) wasn't doing well financially, so he turned to robbing McDonald's by climbing in through the roof. He got caught, and was sentenced to prison for 45 years on, assuming the movie's portrayal of the robbery in question was accurate, a bullshit kidnapping charge. It was (brief) unlawful imprisonment, at best!
He escapes prison but, stuck until his friend comes up with fake passports, Jeff hides in a local Toys R' Us. Let's hear it for the early-2000s, when you had commercial space options for havens other than Wal-Marts!
The movie spends a little time on Jeff settling into his hidey-hole, learning how to disable the record function on the security cameras - which he follows up by immediately running into the store to grab peanut M&Ms - setting up his own cameras (via baby monitoring cameras), stuff like that. It's through these activities he gets invested in the lives of the employees, specifically Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) and the dickhead supervisor, Mitch (Peter Dinklage.)
I did, when he first announced the store was closing over the intercom, briefly entertain the notion Mitch was an OK guy who really liked working at a toy store. His dismissive attitude towards Leigh's requests for the weekends off when her ex doesn't have custody of their kids, plus implying one of the other employees was at fault for the missing M&Ms because he had a noticeable paunch, put that to rest.
A big chunk of the film is centered around Jeff (or John as he introduces himself) and Leigh's relationship, started after Jeff brings a bunch of toys to her church for their toy drive. Toys he stole from the store where she works, but Mitch dismissed her offer to attend, and didn't even consider her request for a donation, so I guess it was his Grinchiness that's at fault.
The romance parts are the least interesting bits, though to be fair, a lot of them are focused around "John" trying to connect with Leigh's daughters, who are probably stand-ins for his own daughter, whether that's conscious on his part or not. And the movie uses that to highlight Jeff falling into the same patterns that probably got him busted in the first place. He thinks he's not enough, so he showers people with gifts to buy affection. Which takes money, which leads him to commit crimes, and there you go.
His fake passport making friend (LaKeith Stanfield) tells Jeff he's got the "calculating" part of being a crook down, but not the "cold." (Stanfield has the cold, because I'm pretty sure he took a 6-month contract to Afghanistan figuring Jeff would be caught by then, so he wouldn't risk his operation being brought down trying to help the guy.) Instead, Jeff is 'goofy.' And Tatum plays a goofball well. He's not afraid to look silly or cheesy, in a way where you can't quite tell if he's earnest or desperate.
Probably desperate, and trying very hard to delude himself. The part where he knocks out the security guard, then loudly insists it's not his fault reminded me of John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank, kneeling over a man he just killed with a pen, insisting, 'it's not me.' This movie doesn't really dive into that, the excuses Jeff made for himself, beyond he thought it was what he had to do to be a "good" dad.
Dunst has the role of the one charmed by this goofy, secretive man, but you can see a bit how past relationship experience makes her wary. Maybe not at first, when she might think the secrets are just him putting on an act. But the longer they date, as he starts with these desperate plays for her daughter's to like him, the more concerned she gets. She commented her ex wasn't present for a lot of things, and I wonder if "John" going overboard with the gifts feels like a different slant on the same trend. He's not going to be around, so he's trying to buy goodwill via his wallet.
The lessons Jeff says he's learned by the end are somewhat undercut by the brief note before the credits that the real Jeff escaped prison two more times after this incident. Maybe he just gets stir-crazy.
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