For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - The Adjustment Bureau
The Impression:
A sort of stark, deco-looking slightly sci-fi picture with
Matt Damon, the impressively attractive Emily Blunt, and
John Slattery? My curiosity is at most peaked.
The Reality:
The sci-fi aspect of George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau
is probably a little over-hyped in the fairly overwhelming
ad campaign currently. Though gently coated with the idea
that our lives our "adjusted" by a group of well-dressed
angel-types, the film is less about the fantastical, and
more about the ooey-gooey love story that sits at the
center. David Norris (Matt Damon), an aspiring political
candidate, runs in to a beautiful party crasher (Emily
Blunt) on the day he loses his first election. Three years
later he runs in to her again, setting off a pulling back of
the curtain of mystery that shrouds an elite organization
that, well, runs the Earth. There’s a sci-fi movie here, but
what Nolfi pieces together is a sort of modern day It’s A
Wonderful Life, with a squadron of Mad Men-styled
angels tweaking the world’s storylines to make everything
work out the best way possible. Of course things go down
hill when Norris and Blunt’s character Elise decide that
they’d rather be together than held in check by the
restricted fate dictated by the Adjustment Bureau. Even
lacking in the sci-fi it seemed to promise, I found myself
won over by the earnest emotion, Nolfi draws from both his
script and his actors. This rides a fine line of sappiness,
but the talented crew of people working on it manage to
lasso it before it falls in to emotional oblivion. The duo
of Damon and Blunt is a strong one, their light-hearted
banter and chemistry completely believable, and its give a
certain center to a film that involves magic hats and a
nauseating, somewhat subversive, take on Christianity.
The Lesson:
I like my sci-fi a little harder, but with some solid leads
and my perpetually soft heart, the gooier stuff can work out
too.
- Noah Sanders
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