Men In Gray with Hats and Plans

Rating: 9/10 (5 March 2011)

Hugo Award winning author Phillip K. Dick penned over 40 science fiction novels and more than 120 short stories. Dick forged a career out of writing about omnipotent corporations and dystopian governments that manipulated people like puppets. Even if sci-fi does not share shelf space with your mainstream literature, you should have heard about him from a number of film adaptations released since his death 1982. For the record, Dick died in 1982, and Hollywood belatedly appropriated his inventive output. Of course, "Blade Runner" (1982) ranks as the most celebrated Dick adaptation. "Next" (2007) with Nicolas Cage, "A Scanner Darkly" (2006) with Keanu Reeves, "Paycheck" (2005) with Ben Affleck, "Minority Report"(2002) with Tom Cruise, "Impostor" (2001) with Gary Sinise, "Screamers" (1995) with Peter Weller, and "Total Recall" (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger followed in the wake of "Blade Runner." The thing that most of these films have in common is that they do little justice to his genius. Freshman writer, producer, and director George Nolfi has done a splendid job turning Dick's 1954 short story "Adjustment Team" into an entertaining opus with Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Terence Stamp. If you shun sci-fi thrillers because of the gadgetry, jargon, and far-out creatures that dominate so many of these movies, "The Adjustment Bureau" may appeal to you. Damon does not show up in a space suit and Blunt does not cavort about in some futuristic coiffure. Nobody brandishes either a laser gun or the neutralizer. Alien life forms neither invade Earth nor enslave humanity.
Aside from the earlier Dick adaptation "Paycheck," "The Adjustment Bureau" qualifies as the least sci-fi looking epic that you will see. Nevertheless, it concerns a theme that obsessed Dick throughout his life: alternate realities sometimes referred to as simulacra. Damon plays Young, single, unruly Brooklyn-born politician George Norris christened 'the GQ Congressman.' Norris falls in love by a happy coincidence when he encounters a beautiful dancer in the men's room at the elite motel where he maintains his election campaign headquarters. Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt of "Gnomeo & Juliet") is hiding from motel security because she tried to crash a wedding. Norris struggles to organize his thoughts for a speech conceding his election to his opponent. Initially, he asks if anybody is in the restroom. This is the kind of rest room where the toilet stall doors resemble front doors. When he gets no response, Norris mulls over the wording of his speech. Elise surprises him at the last moment and steps out, and they strike up a conversation that leads to a kiss. No sooner have they concluded their lip-lock than David's long-suffering campaign manager Charlie Traynor (Michael Kelly of "Law Abiding Citizen") enters and catches a glimpse of Elise as she strolls out. Afterward, David concedes defeat with a speech about the absurd lengths that his campaign went to so that he would attract voters. He talks about the choice of shoes. The shoes have to look nice enough to attract the upper elite without alienating the middle class voters. Although he lost the election, David has proved so charismatic that he won't be overlooked during the next election.
Later, David and Elise meet again on a New York City Transit bus. As it turns out, a group of guys are monitoring everything that happens to David and Elise. They dress elegantly but unobtrusively in gray suits and ties. They tote around title books and like to haunt rooftops where they survey the city and make plans. Actually, they don't make plans. More appropriately, they follow plans. When they open their books to check the progress of their plans, we see what looks like a computer screen saver on paper with scribble-like lines and circles. They report to a superior who calls himself 'the Chairman of the Board.' No, the Chairman of the Board is not Frank Sinatra with a harp, a halo, and a hat. In fact, we never see the Chairman of the Board. Nevertheless, this 'Chairman of the Board' might be a supreme deity. Writer & director George Nolfi leaves this up to the imagination of each individual moviegoer. The problem is that the Chairman of the Board that orchestrates the moves that mankind makes wants neither of them to hook up.
Indeed, these many mysterious men in hats do their best to keep our hero and heroine apart. Initially, they succeed after the man-in-gray, Harry Mitchell (Will Smith lookalike Anthony Mackie of "Million Dollar Baby") takes a nap on a city bench and misses a rendezvous with Norris. When he misses colliding with Norris, Harry accidentally allows him to run into Elise on the city bus. The men in gray scramble to make-up for this error by getting to David's office where they try to erase everybody's mind. You can see all of this stuff in the trailer. They warn David that they will zap his mind if he does not play along with them. Specifically, they don't want him to meet Elise because she is destined to become America's greatest dancer. If they get together, he will destroy her career as well as sidetrack his own political aspirations. Predictably, the Damon protagonist refuses to be manipulated, even if these enigmatic gentlemen threaten to erase his mind. Sounds a bit like "Men in Black?" Nevertheless, he does everything within his power to thwart these people who would keep the woman of his dreams and he apart in this exciting romantic thriller. The closest movie to "The Adjustment Bureau" that seasoned sci-fi aficionados may recall is director Alex Proyas's second film, the neo-noir "Dark City" (1998) where aliens recreated an Earth-like environment and conducted endless experiments to understand the essence of humanity. Unlike "Dark City," "The Adjustment Bureau" prefers to be more cerebral than sci-fi.