As I started watching The Adjustment Bureau, I was surprised to see it was based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. I then spent the first ten minutes of the movie trying to think of all of the novels and short stories written by Dick that were made into movies. The list is massive and includes hits like (Minority Report, Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly), misses like (Imposter, Next, Screamers), highly overrated movies (Total Recall), and highly underrated movies (Paycheck). I wouldn’t put The Adjustment Bureau in any of these categories. It was a moderate hit ($62 million domestically, $128 million worldwide) based on a $50 million budget. It earned a 72% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was more a hit than a miss, but it certainly was no Minority Report or Blade Runner. Another interesting fact about Dick was that for every movie/short story, he wrote that was made into a movie, he wrote 15-20 times as many that were not made into movies. Philip K. Dick was, in his day, to the science fiction genre what Stephen King is to the horror genre today.

I wouldn’t review this movie because writing about science fiction/fantasy movies is challenging. It isn’t easy to separate the fantasy versus reality components. I don’t like movies where the science fiction components apply just to the characters that the movie wants them to apply to. I know this is the intention in many of these movies, but it’s difficult to accept this when I’m watching a movie like this. This is why I hated a movie like The Manchurian Candidate. I wanted to like The Adjustment Bureau much more than I did. It’s not a confusing movie; it could have been more believable (which again references the points I referenced above). At the same time, other movies are science fiction movies that I love. Dick’s Minority Report is in my Top 25 of All-Time. This is another reason why I only sometimes enjoy writing about science fiction movies. I contradict myself when listing similar reasons for liking one movie as I do for disliking a different movie.

But I only wanted to write about The Adjustment Bureau for one reason. The reason was the online chemistry between David Norris (Matt Damon – Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Identity) and Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt – The Young Victoria, Sunshine Cleaning). The relationship between the two actors served as one of the two parallel stories. It was, by far, the most honest romance of the entire year. Now I’m certainly not a guy who seeks out romantic movies, and had I known that this was a significant part of the plot line, I would have had less desire to see the film.

The movie revolves around a member of Congress in United States history vying to become the senator of New York. He holds a massive lead just days before the election. Still, the New York Post posted an unflattering photo of him at a college reunion gathering. Suddenly, voters become weary of his maturity and ability to be a leader in the country. He ultimately loses the election. While retreating to an empty bathroom to prepare the delivery of his concession speech, he is interrupted by Elise (who had been hiding in a stall the whole time). The two become engaged in a conversation and ultimately passionately kiss, despite knowing each other for less than five minutes. But David’s encounter with Elise causes him to change the concession speech he had written, which was approved by his campaign and set for him to read from a teleprompter. Instead, he gives an inspirational speech in which he promises to be a great candidate in the next election.

We fast forward 11 months, and David works for a venture capital group. It is a job, but just that. He is ready to prepare for his next campaign. Perchance, he reencounters Elise on a city bus to work. It’s been 11 months, but the connection is still there. They flirt with each other, and she writes down her phone number on a business card. David and Elise part, and David is happy, inspired, and, quite possibly, in love. He’s high on life and optimistic about the future.

However, his day is abruptly altered when he witnesses something he wasn’t supposed to be and is introduced to the Adjustment Bureau. The Adjustment Bureau is a group of men who ensure that the United States is going in the direction they want. They have a plan for David, which is for him to win the Senate seat and, one day, be President of the United States. He’s been made of their powers firsthand. They can read his thoughts, determine his moves, and stay one step ahead. The Adjustment Bureau informs David that they will wipe him clean if he tells anybody about them. He will have no memory and be rendered crazy by society. David is told that he cannot see Elise again, and the business card with her phone number is set on fire. Though he has some free will with his decision-making, his future is predestined unless he does something to purposely disrupt it before the Adjustment Bureau has enough time to stop him.

That is enough of the storyline to give here. The conflict of interest becomes does David follow this path laid out for him and, with the assistance of the Adjustment Bureau, become a future US President or does he try to get himself out of this path, risking his entire future, but even more his safety, to pursue the woman he is told explicitly to stay away from. Still, one has brought him the most authentic happiness he knows. It’s understood which path he will try to follow.

The scenes between Damon and Blunt, while limited, are magical. The whole “love at first sight” phenomenon is offered to us, and it is believable because of the lengths David goes through to try and sustain a relationship with Elise. His decisions that end up hurting her emotionally because it makes it feel like he doesn’t care about her are made in her best interest. David is a conflicted man who wants to be with Elise more than anything but knows The Bureau will not allow this to happen. However, because of his efforts to pursue her, the sadness he feels without her, and the utter joy they experience when they can spend time together, their love is stronger than any other man/woman relationship I had seen in the movie in 2011.

So as frustrated as I was at times when the science-fiction aspect of the movie worked when those involved in the production wanted it to, that part of the movie I was able to live with because of the raw emotions and strong feelings that Damon portrayed on the screen with Blunt being his perfect counterpart.

Plot 7/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 10/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 7.5/10 (tough one…I feel like if I read this short story, this could go up or down depending on how much I liked the story)
Directing  7/10
Cinematography 8/10 (some astonishing scenery)
Sound 6/10
Hook and Reel 8.5/10 (drew me in…I didn’t pause it once)
Universal Relevance 5/10 (forces us driving us away from what we want is something we are used to…though certainly not to this extent)
77%

Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie

• The Bourne Identity
• Source Code
• Looper
• Enemy of the State
• Minority Report