Why you should and shouldn't see The Adjustment Bureau

Rating: Null/10 (3 October 2011)

What I Think Nolfi uses Philip K. Dick's clever premise to its best advantage, with an effective script, directed well. The principal roles couldn't have been better cast, the suit and hat attire of the Bureau members is just right, and the effects, such as the doors that open into random locations across the city, are seamlessly executed.
It's possible that some viewers, depending upon their religious views, might take offense at The Adjustment Bureau, because its conflict could be interpreted as not only fate versus free will, but faith versus free will. Sometimes a little offense is a good thing, though, because it can lead to thinking.
Putting myself in David's place (as a moviegoer should), I wanted to ask Richardson and his cohorts more questions, and more pointed ones, sooner than the protagonist did. You've asked me to trust you, now tell me why I should. You might want to start by telling me exactly who and what you are. Has anyone even tried to come up with a plan that gets us from A to Z without (bad thing)? If you want my cooperation, you'll explain why there's no other way. Come on, sell me on it, walk me through it. I have a right to that much. It's a compliment to the filmmakers, I think, that I cared enough to want answers before they were provided.
I don't find the film's treatment of Fate as a mystical force to be quite as profound as it's probably intended to be, probably because I'm not big on mystical forces. However as an action-adventure, an intricate romantic fantasy and even as a diverting philosophical exercise, The Adjustment Bureau succeeds.
Why you should see it: You like it when Matt Damon runs around and Emily Blunt has emotions at people. You enjoy mislabeling fantasy as science fiction. You can pretend this is a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, in which Blunt's character has given up the fashion world for ballet and magically teleports onto the field at Yankee Stadium with Jason Bourne, Senate candidate.
Why you shouldn't see it: You're afraid you'll accidentally use the word "Chairman" in church.
--from my review at www.1man365movies.com