The Adjustment Bureau

Rating: 5/10 (2 July 2011)

I saw the trailer for this film at least five times, and it sounded like a relatively interesting concept, so with some opinions I had I decided I should give it a chance. Basically New York congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) is the ambitious politician and candidate trying to win a seat in the U.S. Senate, but he has so far been unsuccessful. One night he is practising a speech in a hotel bathroom, and he meets ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) who is hiding for crashing a wedding, and they quickly find themselves kiss each other, before she runs away, but he is inspired to give a more well received speech. A year later we see David has not still yet been successful, we also see men in long tailored coats and hats who work for an agency, The Adjustment Bureau, they are responsible for making sure that things happen according to plan, essentially agents of fate. One of the agents, Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie), is given the job to cause a coffee spill to stop David getting on a bus, but he does not get there in time, and as a result David is pleasantly surprised to see Elise again, and she gives him her phone number. However David is taken almost hostage by the secret agency and told that he was not supposed to see her again, and he should stay away from her, and obviously not talk about the men in hats to anyone. He ignores this and tries whatever he can to find and reunite with Elise, and he will not be stopped by the deliberate distractions by the agents, this search lasts for three years. Eventually David does manage to find her after all these years getting on the same bus every day, and he says that he lost her number which she accepts, and they seem to be back in love again. Some of the agency records say that David and Elise are destined to be together, but most of the agents, especially Richardson (John Slattery) are insisting that their original plans to keep them apart are right, and they have not succeeded so far. Therefore Thompson (Terence Stamp), one of the big minds of the agency, has a real talk with David, telling him that if he stays with Elise, fate will turn on both him and her, he will keep losing his candidate bids, but he is more devastated that she may not become a star dancer. David decides to take this on the chin and leaves her alone for eleven months, he is devastated to find out that she is getting married to guy she dumped years ago, and agent Harry feels guilty, and gives him the chance to change fate. He gives him his special agent's hat, which unlocks all the doors all over the city, so he runs to find Elise, and with agents chasing after them they go all over the place to stay together. Turning a door knob the opposite direction however takes them to the agency headquarters, and it looks like they will be trapped on the roof by Richardson and others, but Harry helps them. In the end the fates of the couple have been rewritten by the Chairman, so David and Elise are allowed to stay together with no consequences, and only nods from the agents, all in hats. Also starring Michael Kelly as Charlie Traynor, Anthony Ruivivar as McCrady and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Damon as always is reliable and stern in many moments, as well as charming, Blunt does well as his kind and nervous love interest, they make a good couple, and some of the individual agents, including Slattery and Stamp are sometimes spooky, the premise of fate and changing it certainly engages you, especially with a love story in the middle, the pacing might be a little up and down, but overall it is a rather enjoyable romantic science-fiction drama. Worth watching!