A Care Bear Stare ending can't ruin this movie

Rating: 6/10 (8 March 2011)

The Adjustment Bureau succeeds on the strength of an intriguing premise, the attractive pairing of its two leads and an interesting supporting character, overcoming some fairly serious plotting issues and a Care Bearish ending to craft an endearing sci-fi romance.
David Norris (Matt Damon) is a young Congressman who's running for Senate when he meets a feisty young dancer named Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). The two of them connect like they were always meant to be together, until an enigmatic organization called The Adjustment Bureau tells David he can never see her again. Made up of shadowy men in magic hats and their helmeted soldiers, The Bureau nudges human beings back in line with The Plan. When you spill coffee on yourself and miss the next bus, when your cell phone dies and you miss and important call, when you can't get a taxi to make an appointment, that's The Bureau shepherding you along according to the designs of The Chairman.
The Plan says David and Elise must not be together. When David learns of The Bureau and its influence on his life, however, he rebels and sets out to be with Elise no matter what the cost. With the help of a Bureau agent (Michael Kelly), David and Elise run hither and yon until the Bureau gives up and they live happily ever after. Seriously, that's the way it ends.
The Adjustment Bureau is like a great idea for a TV series and a lot of this movie plays out like the pilot episode of such a show. While the chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt is the best thing about this film, John Slattery as the harried Bureau agent desperately scheming to keep them apart is a very close second. Like a mix of Sam Becket from Quantum Leap, The Phantom Stranger from DC Comics and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Slattery's character and the other Bureau agents are a clever take on the concept of a secret conspiracy that's running the world. To the men of the Bureau, it's just a job with the same office politics and pain-in-the-ass personnel issues as any other.
Damon and Blunt are both excellent, creating a compelling enough love affair that it could have sustained an entire movie by itself without any sci-fi trappings. When that relationship is endangered by the machinations of The Bureau, the believability of it generates a decent amount of dramatic tension.
Now, the story does have some whanging big plot problems. For example, when David learns about the Bureau and its power over human existence, the film jumps forward three years and the audience is supposed to go along with the idea that David could find out this mind blowing information, then just go back to living a normal life like nothing happened. That's pretty silly. And after letting the audience get invested in Slattery's character, the movie brings in a different Bureau agent for the last half hour or so to be the main obstacle for David and Elise to overcome. It's completely unnecessary and, while the new agent is meant to be a greater menace, he doesn't do or say anything that Slattery's character couldn't have done and said. Instead of being a contest between two sides with the audience torn between who they want to succeed, injecting a never-before-seen character into the mix ruins that dynamic and makes the story so emotionally one-sided that it loses its edge.
And then there's an ending that's on par with the Care Bear Stare when it comes to lameness. This is literally how it goes
"You must follow The Plan!"
"But we're in love!"
"Oh. Okay then, do whatever you want."
Even with serious flaws, The Adjustment Bureau is an enjoyable and slightly thought provoking motion picture. It'd make a great TV show, though.