The Adjustment Bureau (2010)

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The affair between a politician and a ballerina is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.

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Reviewed by: Alyse Garner, Cinema Paradiso
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The Adjustment Bureau review by Alyse Garner, Cinema Paradiso

The Adjustment Bureau Review

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The Adjustment Bureau is a film whose title lets it down. A US politician finds himself in the company of a daring and beautiful ballerina who makes him feel as he has never done before. They have several chance meetings and the politician, David Norris (Matt Damon) decides that she, Elise (Emily Blunt) is the woman of his dreams. However his encounters with Elise lead to the accidental revelation of a secret authoritarian group of non-human males who have been controlling his actions and decision his entire life. This team, known as the “Adjustment Bureau” work for someone known only as “The Chairman”, and have special powers that enable them to travel through space simply by walking through a door and a form of telepathy. Much of the film is spent watching Damon struggle to decide whether to adhere to the Bureau’s demands and stay away from his beloved or instead to follow his heart. It is revealed that the original “Plan” showed that Elise and Norris were meant to be together, however a change made by the Chairman several years ago means that they must now be kept apart at all costs. The film has a very interesting concept and in the final quarter really gets your intrigue flowing and heart pumping, however the end is a little rushed and is played too safely to for fill it’s potential for adventure. Thematically the film falls into some kind of muddle between romance, thriller and fantasy and based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick {The Adjustment Team}. However, as with many short story adaptations, proportionately the film devotes too much energy to the middle and therefore the end seems a little abrupt. The film’s biggest let down was its failure to fully indulge in the quirks and tropes of science fiction and fantasy. It has some elements of religious mythology about it however the film seems only to touch on them. Even this is not enough to satisfy the need for depth and explanation however, and rather than creating an intriguing and adult fantasy, leaves it feeling somewhat unfinished. Which is a terrible shame because in actual fact the film was enjoyable, the characters and performances agreeable and the premise very promising. One can not help but feel if only the writing had been a little more adventurous then the film could easily have crossed the line into great.