We're no angels.

Are our lives made up of completely random moments, chance encounters and happenings motivated by nothing but our own choosing? Or is there some greater plan we must inexorably follow to its predetermined conclusion--a fate? It may be impossible to know (though I do have my theories), but in the world of The Adjustment Bureau, it is certainly the latter--and then, well maybe, the former.

The film (written and directed by George Nolfi, adapted from a Philip K. Dick short story) begins as David Norris (Matt Damon), a hot and rising politician loses his candidacy for a New York Senate seat. While practicing his concession speech in the bathroom, he notices a Elise (Emily Blunt) hiding in one of the stalls, who inspires him to go off book and say what he really feels. They kiss--passionately--and she runs off. The next morning they meet again on a bus--an encounter that should not have happened as two men in suits and fedoras (yes, these hats matter), Mitchell and Richardson (Anthony Mackie and John Slattery), previously decided that David will spill coffee on himself, causing him to miss not only the bus, but an important meeting. 

Mackie as Henry Mitchell

Mitchell and Richardson are part of the Adjustment Bureau, a group that makes slight nudges over the course of everyday events, so that the world will all eventually go according to plan. But David is a wrench thrown into that plan. First it's unintentionally. When he gets to that meeting he was supposed to miss by ten minutes, he sees the Bureau doing its work, freezing time in the office, scanning and rescanning brains. But after the Bureau reveals how they work and that he and Elise can't end up together because of their decided paths, he actively chooses to go off course.

This may sound particularly science fiction-y and intricate and it is. But really it all simply provides necessary plot points for the real story, the soul of the movie, which is the romantic drama between David and Elise. From their initial encounter in the bathroom to their next meeting on the bus, from their reunion three years later to a truncated goodbye as David temporarily concedes to fate, Damon and Blunt create a palpable chemistry on screen. Every moment they are on screen together feels real. It may seem silly that someone would go to the lengths David goes through to just to be with Elise, but here we believe it and because of that the stakes feel that much higher.

It's also a movie about choice and the lack thereof. As a senate candidate, he was molded by his campaign--clothes are picked out for him, speechwriters gave him his words. When David falls in love, the Bureau intervenes. In both cases, Elise gave him that freedom to choose his path. And I was happy to see it broach the subject of how those choices have long-term, unintended ramifications. Particularly, how the choice of love means potentially the sacrifice of something else. Romantic symbiosis comes at a cost. That cost rarely gets considered.

The film is not without its flaws, certainly. Much of David's interaction with members of the Bureau involve a heavy amount of exposition. But as we approach a summer that will be overpopulated with comic book reboots and bloated sequels, this is exactly the type of movie at which Hollywood used to excel. From the noirish aesthetic to the old-fashioned romance, I can see a Michael Curtiz-type from the 40s or 50s making this type of movie. It's supported by solid character actors like Slattery and Mackie (who deserves to be a leading man by now, but that's another issue) and also Terence Stamp as another member of the Bureau. And, perhaps most importantly, it's built around the rapport of its stars. A classic movie character once said about old Hollywood, "We had faces!"^* In Damon and Blunt, The Adjustment Bureau has two great ones.



Matt Damon and Emily Blunt



^*I'm not giving you the title, you should already know it!