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Movie review: Adjustment Bureau
Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in the Adjustment Bureau, a Universal Pictures Release.
By Maggie Scott
IMDB is a great source for professional reviewers’ reactions to new films, but don’t pass up checking out IMDB’s Message Board. That’s where John Q. Public has its say, and it can be pretty savvy.
In the case of the new sci-fi romance thriller, Adjustment Bureau, one viewer wasn’t interested in cheering/booing plot; dissing/praising acting, etc. No, the thing that inspired their inner Roger Ebert was the “boom mic.” As in, the microphone held over the actors’ heads to catch the dialogue. Yes, this is a spoiler alert: you’re going to see the pesky little microphone bobbing into the frame in at least a couple of the scenes.
It’s not a deal-breaker for enjoying the movie—since, luckily, it happens long after you have bought into what’s happening to David Norris (Matt Damon) on his way to fighting for his free will. The mood isn’t destroyed, which has, by that time, finally ascended over early speculation that there seems to be something a bit ridiculous going on here, along the lines of Bourne meets Inception, as another IMDB Message Board poster suggested.
Maybe it’s the “these bad guys look like Traveler’s Insurance agents” aha moment you have, when the Bureau’s “case officers” start turning David’s world upside-down. It’s hard to think of them as either angels or demons once you’ve figured out what’s nagging you about them.
Matt Damon, on the other hand, can make any character instantly likeable as you wait to pass judgment on the character’s believability. David is an up-and-comer in the political world who suffers a set-back on his way to what looked like a shoe-in for higher office. A juvenile prank from the past dooms his bid for senator from New York.
His morose reflections in the men’s room of the Waldorf Astoria on election night are shattered by an amazing encounter with Elise (Emily Blunt), a lovely woman hiding from security. With a kiss, she bolts, like Cinderella. Instead of a fairy godmother to help in this instance, chance brings the two together. Or, is it chance?
What if their first and second meetings were never actually meant to be? What if their budding love and probable go-all-the-way-to-forever-together would run David off the road to the White House; a road paved by men like Harry (Anthony Mackie) and Richardson (John Slattery) in dark suits and fedoras who are there to get David “back on track.” If they can’t persuade him that they know what’s best for him, the next step is a “reset.”
David loses Elise for three years, then goes “off the plan” when he catches up with her on the street one day. Now, he knows the danger of hooking up with her, again. But, he tells the “hats” this time, “I don’t care what you put in my way, I’m not giving up.” But, once again, after more information along the lines of how the men in hats have influenced humanity through the ages, David relinquishes his free will.
Eleven months later, sixteen points in the lead in the polls in a second bid for the senate seat, David learns Elise is getting married. It’s odd the kinds of things that pop into a person’s mind when they’re watching a film like this. I suddenly thought of TV’s “Deal or No Deal.” A critic was reminded of The Graduate (Benjamin pulling Elaine out of the midst of her swearing family, out of the church and onto a bus).
Director/writer George Nolfi is right about finding fun and intrigue in the premise of Philip K. Dick’s story. Most of us rely on something to steer our courses though the choppy waters of life: good and bad angels on our shoulders, meditation, prayer, horoscopes, karma, fate. We’re split: free will, or everything that happens, happens for a reason. Then, there’s something called the “divine plan.”
All of these are brought to mind as you watch with, if not exactly bated breath, then pleasant entertainment, David decide what he must do and what he must have to freely and without reservation make life worth living. A Universal release; rated PG-13 for strong language, sexual content and violent image.
