On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas - a woman like none he's ever known. But just as he realizes he's falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself - the men of The Adjustment Bureau - who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together. In the face of overwhelming odds, he must either let her go and accept a predetermined path... or risk everything to defy Fate and be with her.
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller, Adaptation and Politics/Religion Running Time: 1 hr. 46 min. Release Date: March 4th, 2011 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language, some sexuality and a violent image. Distributor: Universal Pictures
Cast And Credits
Starring:
Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Michael Kelly
Directed by:
George J. Nolfi
Produced by:
Isa Dick Hackett, Jon Gordon, Chris Moore
Who is George Nolfi?†a colleague whispered when the final credits began to roll for “The Adjustment Bureau,†a fast, sure film about finding and keeping love across time and space. Good question. If the fates allow â€" or perhaps, as in this very enjoyable movie, the men in gray suits and fedoras permit and “things go according to plan†â€" you should be hearing more from Mr. Nolfi, a screenwriter turned director who has brightened the season with a witty mix of science-fiction metaphysics and old-fashioned fluttery romance.
Matt Damon, who at this stage in his shining career does little wrong, plays David Norris, a Democratic Brooklyn son and favorite in the New York race for Senate, with intimations of the young Robert F. Kennedy in each toothy grin. Set in the present, the story opens with David sprinting toward probable victory, the booming sound track, swift pace and editing mirroring the exuberance of his own great expectations. It’s all going so well until a tabloid publishes a moderately embarrassing if damaging old photograph of him. The photo torpedoes his campaign but, right before conceding the race, he meets Elise (Emily Blunt), a dancer who innocently leads him down a rabbit hole kinked with twists and turns.
The wide contours of that rabbit hole are laid out in “Adjustment Team,†the Philip K. Dick short story that is the movie’s credited inspiration. First published in 1954, it centers on one Ed Fletcher, a salaryman who, arriving at work one day, finds that the world has temporarily turned to gray ash, the people included. In short, unceremonious, frightening order, he discovers that his life â€" his reality â€" has been adjusted by some mystery men running an exceedingly specialized enterprise. Written in Dick’s characteristically unpretty, blunt style, the story earns its punch from the idea that the known world, the world of appearances, dissolves at the touch of a finger. It collapses into dust.
Mr. Nolfi has made assorted, um, adjustments to the original story â€" David’s world doesn’t disintegrate, it pauses like a stuck clock â€" though his largest shift is turning a metaphysical speculation into an existential crisis. After bombing out of the political game David enters into business with his old campaign manager, Charlie (Michael Kelly, who could be Eliot Spitzer’s cousin). Then one strange day David stumbles into a boardroom crowded with immobilized colleagues and busily moving strangers, some wearing gray suits, others dressed in more menacing black. He tries to flee but is caught by the interlopers, one of whom, Richardson (John Slattery), explains that by meeting Elise, David is not following their plan. Like any sane person he responds by trying to make a run for it again, but that’s not in their plan either.
The detour that Elise inadvertently forces David down is not to the strangers’ liking, a situation that leads to tricky, niftily staged cat-and-mouse chase scenes involving some amusing creative geography. But David is as much a captive to Elise as a fugitive from those meddlesome strangers, and he’s also caught between seemingly contradictory forces: his ambition and his heart. In other words, despite the title, the film is less a freak-out about the nature of existence (the world of ash that Dick wrote about) and more about a struggle for love, a more familiar (at the movies), if essential, fight. Whether running or kissing or running and kissing (well, almost), Mr. Damon and Ms. Blunt turn romance into a palpable race.
If Mr. Nolfi doesn’t go deep in “The Adjustment Bureau,†drilling down to where it hurts (he would rather entertain than pain you), he skates on the gray-blue surfaces of his film with confidence. Along with his likable, confidently sexy leads and an excellent troika in Mr. Slattery, Anthony Mackie and Terence Stamp, Mr. Nolfi keeps the film balanced between sincerity and self-conscious amusement, rarely faltering in tone. With their cool-cat hats and tailored suits, Mr. Mackie, Mr. Slattery and Mr. Stamp look as if they’re on hiatus from Mr. Slattery’s AMC show, “Mad Men†(or extras in “North by Northwestâ€). Like Mr. Damon and Ms. Blunt they can bring you into this world because Mr. Nolfi never takes his eye off the human stakes.
Who is George Nolfi?†a colleague whispered when the final credits began to roll for “The Adjustment Bureau,†a fast, sure film about finding and keeping love across time and space. Good question. If the fates allow â€" or perhaps, as in this very enjoyable movie, the men in gray suits and fedoras permit and “things go according to plan†â€" you should be hearing more from Mr. Nolfi, a screenwriter turned director who has brightened the season with a witty mix of science-fiction metaphysics and old-fashioned fluttery romance.
The wide contours of that rabbit hole are laid out in “Adjustment Team,†the Philip K. Dick short story that is the movie’s credited inspiration. First published in 1954, it centers on one Ed Fletcher, a salaryman who, arriving at work one day, finds that the world has temporarily turned to gray ash, the people included. In short, unceremonious, frightening order, he discovers that his life â€" his reality â€" has been adjusted by some mystery men running an exceedingly specialized enterprise. Written in Dick’s characteristically unpretty, blunt style, the story earns its punch from the idea that the known world, the world of appearances, dissolves at the touch of a finger. It collapses into dust. 
If Mr. Nolfi doesn’t go deep in “The Adjustment Bureau,†drilling down to where it hurts (he would rather entertain than pain you), he skates on the gray-blue surfaces of his film with confidence. Along with his likable, confidently sexy leads and an excellent troika in Mr. Slattery, Anthony Mackie and Terence Stamp, Mr. Nolfi keeps the film balanced between sincerity and self-conscious amusement, rarely faltering in tone. With their cool-cat hats and tailored suits, Mr. Mackie, Mr. Slattery and Mr. Stamp look as if they’re on hiatus from Mr. Slattery’s AMC show, “Mad Men†(or extras in “North by Northwestâ€). Like Mr. Damon and Ms. Blunt they can bring you into this world because Mr. Nolfi never takes his eye off the human stakes. 
One reason filmmakers like Mr. Nolfi seem attracted to Philip K. Dick’s work, beyond the brilliance of its ideas, is that his unembellished writing style leaves them room to make the stories visually their own. For his directing debut, Mr. Nolfi, whose screenwriting credits include “Ocean’s Twelve†and “The Bourne Ultimatum,†appears to have turned to the classics for guidance, specifically “Orphée,†Jean Cocteau’s sublime 1949 version of the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus. From the costumes of Richardson’s goggled henchmen to the way David tells Elise to hold onto him so that they can pass through otherworldly portals, Mr. Nolfi samples from “Orphée†to his advantage, adding a layer of pleasure for cinephiles while keeping the mood up. As it turns out, romance for grown-ups isn’t dead in Hollywood â€" it’s just been on extended leave. 
