Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Title: The Adjustment Bureau

Release Date: March 4, 2011

Directed by: George Nolfi

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt

***

If you’re the paranoid conspiracy-theorist, type, The Adjustment Bureau is right up your alley. And even if you aren’t, it may still leave you pondering – is everything happens based on chance, or done according to a “plan”? How much does free will factor into what happens in the world?

Loosely based on a short story of the name “Adjustment Team”, the film follows David Norris (Damon), a young and charismatic Congressman in New York who is running for Senate. After meeting a woman named Elise (Blunt), he encounters a group of people who refer to themselves as “The Adjustment Bureau.” They tell him that it is their job to “adjust” certain things in the world to make sure everything follows the plan written out by their leader, who is only referred to as the Chairman. Norris is also told that he may never see Elise again because it goes against this plan.

Going off the trailers, you may be expecting an exciting, science-fiction action thriller. While elements of those are certainly present, the heart of the movie is the love story between Norris and Elise. That may turn some people off initially, but it is extremely well-done and not tacked on like in many other movies. The excitement and anticipation of watching members of the Adjustment Bureau chase Norris seamlessly blends in with this love story, creating extremely an extremely personable character in Norris, no doubt helped by a great performance from Matt Damon.

Unfortunately, while the performances and stories surrounding those two stars are excellent, the film falls in other aspects, notably the fictional elements of the Adjustment Bureau works. Not only does it not explain huge elements of the organization, instead leaving us to ponder based on a few sentences said by its members in passing, but the elements it does explain seem completely arbitrary. For example, it is more difficult for them to “read” people when they are near water, such as when they are on a boat or when it is raining. Even though this is introduced early in the movie, it doesn’t make sense then, and never does.

I was drawn to this movie by the idea that it would focus mainly on the titular organization, but that ended up being the least interesting part of this movie. Still, I would highly suggest seeing it just for the amazing performances from Damon and Blunt – they’ve done an amazing job of making these characters indentifiable to the point that you are constantly waiting to see what will happen to them next.

Final score: 8/10