The Adjustment Bureau

One of the most compelling movies I’ve seen in a long time (since last years Inception) was “The Adjustment Bureau” starring Matt Damon and the vulnerable Emily Blunt. When I saw the trailer I was intrigued but it really sold the movie short and that may have been its undoing. This movie is a thinking person’s movie and the trailer did not give anyone the impression (at least it didn’t give me the impression) that the movie is as deep as it is and trust me, it’s a deep movie. Written and directed by first time director George Nolfi with a story adapted the short story “The Adjustment Team” by the master Phillip K. Dick, “The Adjustment Bureau” deals with the questions of fate and free will and how we on this planet THINK we have free will and how we THINK we are moved by fate. In reality however every step we take and every decision we make is already mapped out for us by someone known as “The Chairman”. That’s usually not subject matter that interests me or excites me but this movie had an excellent story and what was even more impressive was its execution in relaying that story to the screen.

The story follows Damon’s character David Norris as he runs for the senate seat of New York. He’s ahead in the polls but then a picture is run in a daily rag showing Norris in an embarrassing light and he loses the race in fantastic fashion. While in the men’s room crafting his concession speech he meets Blunts character “Elise” who is in the men’s room ducking from security for crashing a wedding. The two hit it off immediately and the chemistry is electric between them and it’s that chemistry that the movie spins off of. Time passes and David and Elise haven’t seen each other in almost over a year, that chance encounter in the men’s room amounted to nothing other than keeping each other on their minds. David has been trailed by an agent of the Bureau, Harry Mitchell played by Anthony Mackie for pretty much all of his life and Harold had an assignment to delay David from catching his morning bus. Harold fails and the wheels of his missed assignment causes huge ripples in their plans because just by chance Elise is on that bus and The Chairman wants them to be kept apart. Apart they can accomplish amazing things in the world, together they go nowhere.

The cast of this movie is impressive on its own. Outside of Damon, Blunt, and Mackie there’s “Mad Men” star John Slattery and an imposing and sometimes creepy Terence Stamp. The list of cameos is far too numerous to mention them all but there Michael Bloomberg (yes that Bloomberg), John Stewart, and James Carville just to name a few. The look of the movie is easy on the eyes and it was shot entirely on location in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There’s nothing like watching a movie and knowing where that spot is or that building is and speaking of buildings if the Met Life building interior was actually used and not some sets built in some sound stage then that is an amazingly beautiful building inside as well as out. Scored by Thomas Newman his music gives this movie more of an edge at times but not enough times. Newman strikes me as an artist that relies on what he knows works instead of stepping out and challenging himself because to me all of his scores sound the same. If you’ve heard “Road to Perdition” and "American Beauty" and "Revolutionary Road" then you’ve heard this score. There are a few standouts like the theme for Elise and when David is told man doesn’t really have free will, just the impression of it but overall to me the score was just average.

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed “The Adjustment Bureau” and highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s worth the price of admission. See you at the theater.