Kinda dumb, kinda clever, good progression, sloppy ending

Rating: 6/10 (8 March 2011)

When life gets a little off course, the guys from the Adjustment Bureau step in to get it back on track, as they have been doing with humanity since the cradle of civilization. Sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's them, but you'll never know. The Adjustment Bureau is one of those movies which treats science fiction like a business; Explanation comes before imagination, and it has to map out its own set of rules. Call it a realist fantasy if you will, like Stranger than Fiction.
The film is enjoyable in the moment but it's never a whole lot more enriching than than. The product feels kind of half baked, only somewhat romantic, only somewhat clever, only somewhat thrilling. Sometimes it actually come close to being funny in a self reflexive way.
For a movie that is largely about fate vs. chance, I have no doubt that the film makers would have thought it ironic to use such an ending as the one we get, but it is ironic in the wrong way. The last ten minutes form an insulting deus ex machina/ cheap shot, the kind that makes you want to wonder if the film was rushed in the making. Indeed, the Adjustment Bureau ends up feeling way shorter than it should be. It's a nifty movie to be sure, and arguably a nice movie, but it needs adjustment.