The Adjustment Bureau (Review)

For a while there, I was quite enjoying George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau. Then it ended. Only then do you realize how ludicrous the film is on the whole. That’s the thing about a crappy ending. It can undo hours of enjoyment with a single bogus twist or contrived use of a deus ex machina. The Adjustment Bureau is so good at sucking you into its world for so long, but once it’s over it seems to step back and laugh at you for being fooled. Remember Graham Chapman’s character from Monty Python’s Flying Circus who would interrupt a sketch halfway through to dismiss it and call it silly? The ending of The Adjustment Bureau has that same vibe, only it's played with a straight face.

The Adjustment Bureau leaves a taste in your mouth so sour that it’s difficult to remember the sweetness that came before. Essentially, Matt Damon plays a New York senatorial candidate who, after losing an election, meets a pretty girl played by Emily Blunt. The two make a connection immediately, but she disappears from his life before he can get a name or a number. However, the two meet again on a bus a few years later simply by chance. A beautiful relationship seems to be starting.

Yet the two of them meeting again ends up going against “The Plan.” What do I mean by “The Plan?” Well, this falls under the jurisdiction of the Adjustment Bureau. These are a group of magical fedora-wearing men, led by Mad Men’s John Slattery, whose job it is to adjust the future so that everything goes according to this “Plan.” They are quite good at this, except for when Anthony Mackie screws up and Damon once again bumps into Miss Blunt, and as such Damon becomes aware of these men who control the universe. He now understands that the world he lives in is nearly devoid of free will, yet he is determined to spend his life with Blunt.

The film asks a great many questions about what controls the events and encounters in our everyday lives. Is there a higher power at work that controls all without fail, or can free will prevail over all else? Well, the film seems disinterested in answering these questions definitively. You see, the Adjustment Bureau always wins, except for when they don’t, at which point they can fix it, unless they can’t. If you think that sounds like a less-than-concise statement, you’re absolutely right. A film that’s willing to ask the big questions is a thrilling thing to see, but ignoring them once they’re posed can drain a film of its credibility.

What makes The Adjustment Bureau entertaining for so long is the acting, particularly the unusually strong chemistry of Damon and Blunt in the lead roles. These two are so good that the audience ends up rooting for these characters to end up together, and they are willing to stay with the action no matter how nonsensical the proceedings become. That is until the movie ends, at which point the entire experience is rendered frivolous. Even if you’ve made a fun movie on the whole, when all is said and done it needs to feel as if the film was all worth it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a happy ending or a sad one; it just needs to have the right one. The Adjustment Bureau doesn’t pull this off.

The film was written and directed by George Nolfi, who adapted it from a short story by Philip K. Dick. Dick’s work has been used as source material for such films as Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly. The Adjustment Bureau is easily the most light-hearted of these films, and it suffers for it. There’s nothing wrong with creating popcorn entertainment out of interesting, intelligent concepts. Christopher Nolan has proven this time and time again. The thing with ambition is that you have to be willing to attack it head on, and ushering the audience toward the exits with a shrug doesn’t quite cut it. The Adjustment Bureau may be enjoyable while it lasts, but this is a case where that’s not quite enough.

Rating:  (out of 4)