Latest surreal success

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2011)

What do the following dozen films have in common? It's a Wonderful World (1939), Mr. Destiny (1990), Retroactive (1997), The Family Man (2000), Serendipity (2001), Primer (2004), Next (2007), Push (2009), Inception (2010) and The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003). They're all science fiction movies, you say? Close but that's not the answer I'm looking for.
They all are Hollywood surreal stories, metaphors of one or another 'good over evil' or 'true love truncates all' artsy fartsy production we love so much. Matrix trilogy is the mother of surreal metaphors, in my book, and Inception has got to be the one pushing the envelope of "are you following this?" scenario, aside from being visually stimulating. European metaphor movies tend to take a darker more sinister path and thus are not as ideal for selling junk food as Hollywood ones are. The latest in surreal metaphors is this one, "The Adjustment Bureau". It rates a pretty steady 7 among sites that comment and rate (my usual sources) movies. As I'm a fan of Matt Damon and Emily Blunt (loved her "Sunshine Cleaning"), I warn you readers that I'll be biased here.
The IMDb storyline is quite good; I suggest you read it. What makes this movie novel and interesting for me is the way the sci-fi characters are written to be so earthy. The bureaucratic like, sort of angels, expression to paraphrase Anthony Mackie's character Harry Mitchell in the movie, are written to be quite unpretentious. The writer even use the expression 'case file' when referring to Damon-Blunt lives. The concept works well and the writer Philip K. Dick has an excellent track record with this sort of sci-fi themes. The roles are well cast; the experienced Terrence Stamp and John Slattery acquit themselves very well in their roles as 'case managers'. The Adjustment Bureau's role is well outlined to the audience by Slattery's character, Richardson. Doing that, explaining the Adjustment Bureau, was not just performed well, it was necessary and the timing, when to deliver that explanation, was as close to perfect as can think of.
All Mat Damon's fans will love the movie and those who are not fans of any actor should also like the movie. I think Damon, who just recently starred in "Hereafter", should give those themes a break and I see by Damon's list of films in production that he's doing just that. I enjoyed it and will be recommending to my friends.