The Adjustment Bureau Review: The Heart of a Love Story

It’s hard to review a movie when it seems to be equal parts good and bad. The Adjustment Bureau left me with mixed feelings, and though it left my girly heart happy, remnants of all the questionable and/or cheesy plot and character elements I went along with festered in my brain.

Oh, my damnable brain.

The plot: An up and coming Congressman from New York meets a woman in a hotel bathroom moments before he gives his concession speech. A spark flies, they kiss, and their conversation alters his concession speech into something that can jump start his campaign four years later.  He doesn’t learn her name, but three years later he bumps into her on a bus – a bus he was never supposed to get on because a member of the Adjustment Bureau was supposed to alter his path that morning – and gets her number. Because he didn’t miss the bus, he made it to work on time and witnessed his friend and officemates being reprogrammed by men in hats and Hazmat suits.

The Adjustment Bureau, informed by plans written by the Chairman, ensures each human takes the path laid out for them. Unfortunately, Congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) and contemporary dancer Elise (Emily Blunt) are not supposed to be together. It’s something more than that, though, because the members of the Bureau will go to any lengths to make sure they don’t end up together no matter how many times chance tosses them together. With the help of his own personal…angel (Anthony Mackie) (Watchman? Meddling Jerk?) David Norris plans to thwart the plan that has been written and find a way to be with the woman he loves.

I can’t reveal much more about the plot without spoiling some revelations that are heartbreaking and thought provoking, so I’ll leave you with the setup.

The bad: The ending is fairly ridiculous, and in general the Adjustment Bureau members and the Chairman are flat, underdeveloped characters that ask us to just go along with what they’re saying no matter how unexplained or ridiculous it seems. A good example is learning the way they pass between the streets through special doorways is by wearing a hat and turning the knob counterclockwise. Really? That’s the secret?

There are many moments like this, and the science fiction and fantastical elements are all done poorly. Instead of making us believe in them by showing us how they work or placing a well thought out explanation, they simply expect the audience to buy in and move along. We do, no matter how reluctantly, and I’ll tell you why.

The good: The love story. The performances turned in by Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are breathtaking, and leave me wondering why no one has thought to cast Damon in a romantic lead before this. He’s believable as the brash, young politician, and he’s believable as a man who will do anything to be with the woman he loves, no matter the cost. Emily Blunt is gorgeous, vulnerable, and a completely real woman, leaving us to wonder at times whether or not she is better off without David Norris in her life – which is exactly what we should be wondering. The Adjustment Bureau throw obstacles in their path, promise they will ruin one another’s lives should they choose to be together, and even hurt Blunt’s character (really? Angels that sprain dancer’s ankles?). David and Elise play a convincing modern day Romeo and Juliet, and at one point I’m convinced the movie will go with the tragic ending and keep them apart (which honestly would have been more believable and poignant). In the end it takes the more audience pleasing road, choosing instead to culminate in a “love conquers all” message.

My conflicted feelings stem from the fact that a very good love story sits at the heart of this film, and the performances by the central characters are wonderful and engaging. The story and the world the writers built to surround those characters and performances don’t do them justice, and in fact detract at many key moments. I know a film has problems when I’m jerked out of a sensitive, sad moment to wonder “are they serious?” or “yeah, right.” There are many instances like this in The Adjustment Bureau, and the knowledge the movie could have been so much better leaves me a little bit sad.

Still, I don’t think you’ll come out of the theatre wishing you had your $10 back for some Chick-Fil-A, because what you will get is one of the best love stories I’ve seen on the big screen recently.

If you want to fully enjoy it, check your bullshit barometer at the door.

Photos Courtesy of Andrew Schwartz and Universal Studios