Review: The Adjustment Bureau

I may have received the wrong impression from the commercials, but going into this movie I was pretty sure it was going to be an action-thriller. Ya know, it does have Matt Damon - we're all used to seeing him beat up bad guys as Jason Bourne or even as a dirty cop in The Departed. In The Adjustment Bureau Damon plays the role of David Norris - the youngest member of the House of Representatives now running for the Senate, when he comes across his partner getting his mind erased. This sounds like a pretty good set-up for a thriller, but what will surprise you is that, at it's core this movie is a love story; a pretty sappy love story at that. The first half could even be teetering along the lines of a romantic comedy. The movie does get serious eventually and it also brings up a lot of interesting questions that you'll have to answer yourself.

What's more important? Your love of a lifetime or Success? - but not just any success - success that will positively affect millions of people.

Plenty of references to religion appear. Someone working behind the scenes called "The Chairman" does not want Matt Damon and his lover (Emily Blunt) in this movie to be together because it's not part of "the plan" and it would negatively affect plenty of people. The Chairman has his task squad: "The Bureau" which make sure his plan takes place. At one point Matt Damon even asks one of them - "Are you angels?"

Matt Damon is as charming as always in this movie - David Norris is a much more vulnerable character than I'm used to seeing Damon play as he is crazy in love the entire film. He does have his heroics though, so don't worry. Emily Blunt is great as his counterpart, She was great in Sunshine Cleaning and I really enjoyed her here as well. The supporting cast does well enough although I'm pretty sure one of the characters was specifically designed for Will Smith but played by someone else - you'll notice when you see it.

Apart from the previews being a little misleading, this movie is very good. It's touching and because of it's romance-thriller-almost comedy-religion mix, it is different than anything I've seen in a theatre for a long time. There are a few beautiful moments of cinematography and the story is very interesting. My only complaint is that the storytelling, itself can be a little choppy as it bounces forward in time very abruptly a few times.

Go see this movie with an open mind and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it.

Remember to turn the handle clockwise.

Makin Movie Blog Grade: