Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Expanding a short story has to be tricky work. Broaden things too much and you lose what made the original so great. Add the wrong things and the entire production could go awry. While it worked to love it or hate it status with Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, now we’ve got something far more mainstream but still highly intelligent with Philip K. Dick’s The Adjustment Bureau.

After getting a few notches on his belt by writing or co-writing some higher profile films (Timeline, Ocean’s Twelve, The Bourne Ultimatum, and even The Sentinel) George Nolfi's first outing behind the camera is a doozey. Bringing on the man he’s worked with twice before probably doesn’t hurt either. Star Matt Damon was also in his Ocean’s and Bourne entries. Teaming Damon up with Emily Blunt is also a thing of beauty. Here are two actors who can really act yet also bring a whopping amount of sincerity to their characters’ plight.

In the film, David Norris (Damon) is running for New York Senator. Featured on everything from The Daily Show to the cover of GQ, it looks like a sure-fire win. However, all hope is suddenly lost after a scandalous mooning incident and Norris takes to a restroom to practice his losing speech. When Elise (Blunt) sneaks out of what David thought were empty stalls they are both instantly smitten. David can’t help but feel a strong case of déjà vu and they kiss before being interrupted by David’s right-hand man Charlie (Michael Kelly). After Elise inspires an off the cuff and heartfelt speech instead of what Charlie wrote for him, David thinks he’ll never see Elise again.

However, he runs into her on a bus that he’s not supposed to catch thanks to his watcher, Harry (Anthony Mackie), sleeping through what was supposed to be a coffee spill causing him to miss the bus. Now the "Adjustment Bureau" has to correct David and Elise’s paths splitting them up once again but not before Elise can give him her number. Walking in on the "Intervention Team" having a once over on Charlie in his office before a big meeting, David’s taken hostage and into what looks like an abandoned warehouse where it’s explained to him that he is not to expose his peak behind this wall that he’s not even supposed to know exists and that he must never see Elise again or the Bureau will erase his brain and everyone will think he’s gone crazy.

Article Author: Cinenerd

A Utah based writer, born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT for better and worse. Cinenerd has had an obsession with film his entire life, finally able to write about them since 2009, and the only thing he loves more are his wife and their two wiener dogs (Beatrix Kiddo and Pixar Animation). …

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