Ricochet Reviews: The Adjustment Bureau

Like I said in my previous post, I'm going to try to keep up with reviewing all the films I see this year. To do that, though, I have to play catch up (like I did for my Film of the Month entries). I'll post them in order of when I saw them, from earliest to most recent. I'll also repost my Source Code review for continuity's sake. Let's get started.

The Adjustment Bureau

Director: George Nolfi (debut film)

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery

On Blu-Ray + DVD: June 21, 2011

The worst thing I can say about The Adjustment Bureau is that it doesn't do nearly enough with the great concept that the writers came up with. Bureau is about a man (Matt Damon) who discovers an organization whose job is to make sure people stay on the path that they are supposed to be on. Basically, they make sure that people follow their fate. 

It's a great concept, and, to an extent, the filmmakers allow that concept to shape what happens on screen. Damon's character desperately wants to start a relationship with a woman (Emily Blunt) who the Bureau says he is not meant to be with, and his attempts to defy his fate have a romantic appeal that I could relate to. The special powers of the Bureau were also interesting, and the door portals were one of the better parts of the film.

Sadly, though, this is about as far as The Adjustment Bureau allowed its philosophical side to go. It's a shame, because the film hints at deeper levels of thought: Damon's character asks Bureau members the questions we all wonder about (the encompassing "why?" being at the top), only to be given broad non-answers, if any at all; and the Bureau gives the viewer glimpses into some of their powers that don't involve opening doors, but these glimpses are few and far between. These concepts are left largely untouched in favor of the love story between the two main characters, which is the weakest part of the film. The characters meet a total of one time before fate intervenes, and Damon's character is supposed to be madly in love with her? I guess they were going for a "love at first sight" idea, but it doesn't really make sense when that first sight is the only sight for three years.

Then again, it almost works. Damon and Blunt do their best to make that shoddy writing believable, and their chemistry can be felt from their first scene together. The scene where their characters meet is probably the best scene in the entire film. I could feel a real connection between them and it almost carried over enough to make their "love at first sight" idea plausible. If the rest of their romantic scenes worked as well as that first one, The Adjustment Bureau would have turned out so much better.

Overall, I thought The Adjustment Bureau was an interesting but throwaway film. The love story is weak, but the Bureau is an interesting concept, and those fedora hats are damn sexy. I'll probably never come back to it on my own, but if someone wanted to watch it, I wouldn't have a problem seeing it again.