The Adjustment Bureau

In Theaters March 4th, 2011

Even though I haven't seen it yet, and I will see it, I wanted to get a record of my first impressions. When I first saw the trailer I thought to myself "Where have I seen this before ..." then it hit me ... oh, yeah, Dark City with a little bit of the Watcher's style from the TV show Fringe. And even though it is derivative and cliche feebly exploring the existential man versus fate or is it fate versus free will, any who, I will be the first one in line to go see it.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Director: George Nolfi
Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Terence Stamp

3/9/2011

I found The Adjustment Bureau, based on Philip K. Dick's Adjustment Team, to be riddled with a seemingly endless collection of clichés. Clichés such as love conquers all, free will versus fate, cat-and-mouse chase sequences and the romantic comedy/drama formula (boy meets girl, boys breaks girl's heart, boy does something heroic to win girl back). It's even somewhat cliché in the roles each character is destined to become: Him - a President of the United States of America destined to change the future of the World ... Her - a ballerina ... but a really famous one that becomes a choreographer? Somewhat unbalanced in the expectations for female greatness. Furthermore, it stretches the limits of the audience's suspension of disbelief with the absurd gimmickry of all the silly rules incorporated by the men-in-hats. At one point during the silliness I thought for sure The Adjustment Bureau would have a run-in with the Ministry of Silly Walks and John Cleese would have to set them straight. Despite all of this ... The Adjustment Bureau was thoroughly enjoyable ... almost exclusively because Damon and Blunt have wonderful chemistry on film. Terence Stamp and John Slatterly (Mad Men) turn in great performances as imposing adjusters while Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) plays the adjuster with the heart of gold.

The movie is a genre mash-up of sorts. One part science fiction and two parts romantic drama. It has just enough Sci-Fi (not spelled Sy-Fy) street cred to get the men to see it only to find out it is really a chick flick disguised as a sci-fi movie.

I started out thinking this was just a movie about the free will versus fate and discovered the heart of the movie is really more about choosing between greatness or happiness. Matt Damon's character is a rising young politician on the verge of greatness while Emily Blunt is an amazing dancer destined to become a world famous choreographer yet if they come together they both lose that drive to achieve and thus don't change the world. Spock from Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan puts it another way, " ... the needs of the many out way the needs of the few." Or at least that is the basis for the plans incorporated by the Adjustment Bureau.

But Matt Damon doesn't see it that way. Unfortunately the Adjustment Bureau forgot that Damon's character studied Jean Paul Sartre and so he decides to fight fate (<- another cliché) because he believes that in the end we are our choices. If you don't like the plan that your life is taking then change it! We are constantly told by society that we can have it all but in the end we can't and so life becomes about the choices you make.

The story begins to lose steam in the third act as you realize exactly how it is going to end and we just have to let the director finally get us there. But the first and second act are compelling and have good pacing.

The style of the adjusters is very Mad Men-ish. I felt like Matt Damon was being chased by advertising executives from the 1950's.

Not nearly on the level of entertainment as such movies like last year's Inception but certainly worth renting.