Matt Damon stars here as David Norris, a congressman who’s planning to up his game by running for a seat in the Senate. However, his chances for winning are trounced when the media discovers old footage of him acting naughty while performing a college prank. The puritanical voters punish David by electing the other guy, and he finds himself moping in the empty men’s room of his campaign headquarters, trying to figure out what he’s going to say in his concession speech. That’s where he meets Elise (the charming Emily Blunt), who’s hiding out in the men’s room from the hotel security because she crashed a wedding. For these two unconventional people, it’s love at first sight, and they manage to steal a kiss before Elise goes on the run from security once more.
His meeting with Elise has inspired David to throw caution to the wind and give an electrifying concession speech where he’s wonderfully blunt about the election process. This puts him in the running for another try at the senate, but in the meantime, while he’s riding the bus to his first day at work, he meets Elise once more. Obsessed with this woman, David is determined to keep her in his life this time--until he runs into the Adjustment Bureau, which is an army of buttoned-down guys in suits and hats whose job it is to make sure things go according to plan. And David falling for Elise is simply not part of the plan.
Based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick, whose novel, Do Robots Dream Of Electric Sheep?, was the basis for Blade Runner, The Adjustment Bureau winds up being a fun chase films that was written and directed by George Nolfi, who wrote The Bourne Ultimatum for Damon and co-wrote Timeline for director Richard Donner. Eschewing the science fiction trapping of such Phillip K. Dick-inspired films like Total Recall, The Adjustment Bureau goes for a more fantasy-themed approach, as the stalwart men of the Adjustment Bureau are presented as these gentle Madison Avenue angels who help humanity stay on track while looking like they stepped right off the set of Mad Men.
Their boss is a God-like leader called The Chairman, and the workers at the Adjustment Bureau are seemingly magically empowered--in one scene, Richardson, played by John Slattery, is seen changing things by just pointing his finger--yet they still use technology to plant an idea inside someone’s mind (which probably would have made life much easier for the heroes of Inception). Their powers are limited by the Chairman himself, which allows Damon’s David to get the better of them. Despite some plot holes, there’s real chemistry between Damon and Blunt, which makes you want to root for them. Nolfi handles the chase sequences with great style and suspense, and the viewer finds himself getting caught up in this romantic fantasy that ultimately questions just how much free will a person has in this world.
--SF
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