The Adjustment Bureau - Post Release

Agreed on the excellent chemistry between Damon and Blunt. And then the third act becomes THE FORGOTTEN.

I really liked this movie, in fact the more distance I get from it the more I like it. Saw it yesterday in a surprisingly packed cinema.

 

It is more of a romance than an out and out sci-fi film as most critics have mentioned but the romance really really works. Emily Blunt is looooooovely without being an out and out stunner and Matt Damon does his everyman schtick to perfection which makes you invest in their romance. I like that it made me think about fate and consequence as well...

 

Would have possibly been the worst film ever had they cast Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz

In what universe is Emily Blunt not an out-and-out stunner?

 

I really did love that the movie sticks to the fact that it's a romance, not a fantasy adventure or a SF thriller. Which means the climax isn't about action. I suppose a little more tension would have helped, but the important thing is Damon and Blunt clinging to love in the face of total temporal erasure, or whatever that was. (Actually, I didn't quite get that. My initial assumption was that the Adjustors' nuclear option was to essentially eradicate your soul and turn you into a robot who would follow the plan perfectly. But then they said that everyone around you would think you'd "gone crazy", which seems like a weird way of putting things back on track. Did I miss something? Also, what was that talk about how they were planning on "going operational" that was never followed up on?)

 

I'm also not convinced by the thing about how they can toy with people's rational thought processes, but not their emotions. Wouldn't emotions be easier to manipulate? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Damon and Blunt were both terrific together.  In fact, I wish they had just been doing a straight romantic drama, because all the "adjustment" stuff slowly but surely drives the movie over a cliff. 

 

The movie completely loses me when Damon leaves Blunt for the second time at the hospital and yet we're supposed to believe that she will eventually forgive him for that a year later.  Nope.  Sorry.  That completely killed my suspension of disbelief to where the entire third act was rendered completely Bullshit. 

 

Not to mention how ridiculously low stakes the whole thing was.  I kept waiting for the revelation that Damon leaving Blunt to become President was somehow important for the human race, like he could be the only person to stop nuclear war or some such.  Instead, the argument is basically, "Well, if you two stick together, your careers won't be quite as nice as you like."

 

Also, fucking Adrian got shafted!  

 

I think it was pretty clear she was pissed off after he left her at the hospital, but once they started being chased by supernatural entities through an Escher-esque landscape of dimensional portals, you have to figure she'd be willing to accept that there might be an explanation for his behaviour. That said, yes, since the movie's a romance first and foremost, they probably should have spent more time on them reconciling.

 

 She weakly shoves him once.  I don't expect Cassevetes-like realism in a film like this, but she should have at least kicked him in the balls and left the bathroom. 

Emotions are less predictable, though.  Sure, they could change how somebody feels about something, but how do you predict what action a person is likely to take based on their feeling?  I change you so that Thing X makes you angry.  Will you avoid Thing X in the future, or will you actively seek it out to ruin it?  If you change how somebody thinks about something, by altering the logical chain that they use to reach a conclusion and make a decision, then their actions become much more predictable. 
 

 

 

But we pretty much see the Adjusters toying with people's emotions anyway. That's what they do to Damon by introducing her to this girl, so that he gives his impulsive speech. And it sounds like killing his family was meant to mold his personality. Given that these people have power over probability, they probably do understand how giving certain people an emotional nudge will work out, so that makes perfect sense. And emotions are often an X factor here in real life anyway.

 

If they're literally reaching into people's brains and meddling with their thought processes, that's much creepier and more proactive, and, I think, clashes with the basic idea of the Adjusters as subtle manipulators. If you're literally programming people to think a certain way, why give them any vestige of free will whatsoever? You may as well have built a world of robots.

 

I think that's in there because Nolfi wanted to elevate the concept of True Love as something deeper and more fundamental than rational thought. Which is fine, but it goes deeper than "emotion" as well. You can love someone and be pissed off at them. I can easily accept that the Adjusters might put someone in a bad mood, or give them a sugar high, or whatever, but be helpless in the face of True Love.

 

I think this is just a sticking point with me because some people in Hollywood are way too enamoured of the idea of a simple dichotomy between reason and emotion, with emotion always being the "good" and reason usually being the "bad". This movie basically says that your emotions define who you really are, whereas I'd argue they're the most superficial aspect of your makeup.
 

 

You're right; that would have been a nice ending. For the most part I loved the film. It has a lot of flaws but the chemistry between the two leads works.

 

I like that there was no "fate of the universe" nonsense. How can we relate to that? By keeping it more grounded, the movie loses its disposable-thriller stench and is able to (for the most part) follow through on its idea of EVERYONE having a plan, whether they're destined to be presidents or on their way to being just your average housemaids.

 

They only get about five minutes into the conversation before the Adjusters burst in and things get wacky. I agree that, since the movie's more focused on the romance, they should have dealt more with her forgiving him, but I don't think she shrugs it off, either.
 

 

 Except that the movie's point of view definitely comes down on the opinion that Blunt reduced to only "teaching 6 year-olds to dance" for the rest of her life is a bad thing.  Damon's argument at that point should have been "So fucking what if she is only a teacher?".  Instead he slinks away like a thief in the night in order for her to become big and famous. 

You're right; it does sacrifice some things for dramatic effect. I got frustrated whenever stupid things like that happened. And yet I still love it!

The film looks great, and Damon and Blunt absolutely work; for me, nothing else really did (save some of the better hats). I found the Bureau obvious as metaphor, and not terribly interesting in execution.

 

As others have pointed out, the stakes are set awfully low for a film of this type (compare it so, say, Somewhere In Time): Damon's character learns he can live without the adulation of public office, so there's no question of him having to make a difficult choice, and since Blunt's character doesn't even know what's going on, she has no difficult choices to make either. I also agree that I was surprised at the notion that Blunt's character having to spend her life as a teacher was some horrible fate.

 

Then on top of that, the end of the film pushes the reboot, so since their destiny's no longer written, who's to say that he can't be president AND she can't become a famous choreographer if that's what she wants?

 

Can't complain, though: great screen couples aren't exactly a dime a dozen, and that woman could lead me to perdition any day of the week.

Edited by Jeb - 3/8/11 at 12:05am

It's a sad state, and I felt the same about Hereafter, that we can't just have a romantic drama with someone as charismatic as a Damon or Blunt or Bryce Dallas Howard without tricking it up with some fantasy/vaguely supernatural bullshit.   There are no more romantic dramas for 30s/early 40's stars anymore.  It's either Twilight or I'ts Complicated.   No middle ground. 

 

lol

When Anthony Mackie congratulated them at the end with, "You risked everything..." did anyone else half expect him to add, "You advance to the next round and we'll see you next week"?

 

 

Yeah, it was like an episode of The Amazing Race.  
 

 

"Terrence, please turn in your hat."

Actually Stamp's character put me in mind of The Piranha Brothers: he's this badass called The Hammer, who tries to trip up Our Hero with... dour philosophy.

 

"Everyone was terrified of Doug... 'e used... sarcasm."

Saw this today and I agree with what seems to be the consensus: Damon and Blunt are terrific, and especially terrific together. They hold the film together, and manage to make something out not very much.

 

I thought the idea behind the Bureau was interesting and dipped its toe into, well, interesting philosophical waters, but as typical with mainstream Hollywood releases, is afraid of complexity and subtlety, and remains an obvious and none-too-logical parable (with an ending that seems to want to have it both ways).

 

During Elise and Norris' first two meet-cutes, I found myself wishing this was just a straightforward romance, as well. I liked the extra elements - and I couldn't even call them SF, as they're barely explored and so blatantly there as analogs rather than a full-blown alternate world - but thought they could have explored almost the same themes and dilemmas without the more fantastic components.

 

And yeah, Blunt was ravishing in this.

I just couldn't get on board with this. I dug the acting and performances, but the central sci-fi/"God" conceit just failed for me. It's a neat idea but handled very poorly in my opinion. I had a hard time being invested when it felt like the "rules" behind how "they" operate were so fucking arbitrary.

 

And Ratty NAILS IT!!!

 

Yeah, I felt like I could watch Damon and Blunt flirt their tits off all day long but the plot/philosophy/construction of the film is about as thin as that dress she was wearing in the last act and the action is pedestrian at best. The scene where Norris makes his run for the courthouse with the door-play is built up nicely with Mackie's tutoring of Damon in the Art Of The Hat but then the way it plays out is an almost total failure of suspense cinema and the final scene isn't much better (except that at least we get to watch Emily Blunt galavanting about in that dress).

 

I felt something like I was supposed to at the end because the two leads are fucking sweeeeeeeeeet but it was in spite of all the ham-fisted contrivances and fancyness that seemed almost like they were trying to stop me feeling for the characters even harder than the Bureau tried to keep them apart.

 

I recommend seeing it though, because as much as it's only so-so as a story, at least it's somewhat of an adventurous one. And Blunt and Damon deserve your eyeballs.

I really liked this movie. Something about an upbeat romantic Phillip K Dick adaptation still leaves me kind of giddy. A great date movie and I liked how different the film was.

Went to go see this today with my girlfriend. Thought it was pretty great! A great mix of sci-fi and romance. It's definitely a good date movie. Really strong performances from Blunt and Damon held it together, with a great directing job and great writing to boot.

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Yup yup.  Really liked this.  Yup yup.  Basically because of Damon and Blunt (and the cast of the Bureau).  It whimpers to an end, but the initial setup was fun (when it was Slattery doing the pursuing).  I'm surprised it didn't do a little better than it did.  The audience I saw it with (a bargain theater audience) really took to it.

 

Having seen The Red Shoes somewhat recently, I bought the 'choice' Matt Damon had to make for him and Emily Blunt.  Sure, teaching ballet to 6 year olds isn't some horrible fate... but I don't see it that literally.  If some supernatural figure told me that I could be the love-of-my-life's barrier to fulfilling her true potential (as well as mine), it would definitely give me pause.  At the very least, I wouldn't just shove it back in the 'agent's' face.

 

(in no way am I comparing this film to The Red Shoes in terms of quality... heheheh... it just immediately came to mind when Stamp brought up that conundrum)

 

Also, who gives a shit about Adrian?  He looked like a tool!