The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Universal

Matt Damon stars as David Norris, a political candidate, in The Adjustment Bureau which is based off a short story by Philip K. Dick. Other movies have been adapted from his stories like Total Recall and Minority Report. While this has similar themes like a man on the run from some type of enforcement team, it is a lot more romantic and less “action”-oriented than those other movies.

I found Matt Damon to be a great choice as the “every man” in this movie. Along with Emily Blunt as his love interest (named Elise); they do a great job of getting you to believe in their relationship. She plays a dancer and her character is very down to earth and frank with David. I actually wanted to see them together and hoped David could find a way to “beat” the Bureau.

As for the actual Adjustment Bureau, the film sets them up as a powerful looking group, yet they really aren’t as omnipotent as they seem. David keeps finding his way back to Elise and it raises a lot of questions. What’s stopping them from “resetting” his memory, which they warned him they could do? The movie eventually answers these questions about their abilities and their limitations but it still didn’t answer a few questions that I had. How are the members of The Adjustment Bureau selected? Do they receive pay checks like a regular day job, and if not, then what is keeping them as an Adjustment Bureau team member? I wondered if they had their own life outside of the Bureau.

I admit I don’t see a lot of romantic movies, though I did like this one as it had a science fiction theme to it.  It’s nice to see an optimistic movie after my usual action-packed, shoot-out movies. I think it's worth-watching, thanks especially to Matt Damon’s excellent performance. A few of The Bureau members that we follow along with for the story are fun to watch too, as they grow tired of chasing Damon up and down city blocks.