The Adjustment Bureau

A story from life. Except for the fact that my "angels" don't wear stylish hats. Plus there’s the excellent Damon, the great Blunt, a good soundtrack, and on top of that the visual fetish of Manhattan. Maybe in time, it will fade, but now it hit harder than anything else in the last year or so. [Spoiler possibility: I'll have to read Dick’s book, if only for the fact that I’m interested to see if the same wave of positive feelings spills over at the end as with the movie. :)] (06/21/2011)

I say it all the time: Do you want an original sci-fi idea? Close your eyes, stick your hand in the pile of Phillip K Dick's unfilmed thoughts, don't mess it up and success is guaranteed. Like, for example, The Adjustment Bureau. The short and unremarkable short story “Adjustment Team" (which begins with a dialogue between two clerks, one of whom is a man and the other a dog, the dog being big and black, and I'll bet that in the film adaptation he became the black janitor, because they both make practically the same mistake - they fall asleep) has become an original sci-fi "angel-god" fairy tale without unnecessary action scenes, without violence and without expensive special effects, which is very pleasant to watch. The debuting director handled it well, The Adjustment Bureau is pleasantly magical from start to finish, the actors also played their part... Yes, I am satisfied.__P.S. Anyone who wants to read the story will find it in the second volume of the collection “Second Variety".__P.P.S. Now, Hollywood, please make me a movie of that blackly humorous book “Counter-Clock World". Thank you. (09/08/2011)

Has it ever happened to you that you meet Ms (or Mr) Right and circumstances spoiled it all for you? Well it wasn’t the circumstances, but guys in hats controlling your fate. A refreshing plot, even fateful romance (Dick is an endless fountain of ideas), excellently transformed into movie format. Nolfi may not be Spielberg or Scott, but he best captures the playfulness and versatility of P.K. Dick’s imagination. Matt Damon plays another nice guy and Emily Blunt is surprisingly well matched to him. Maybe it doesn’t deserve a clean five, but I have a weakness for this genre. And Thomas Newman rocks again. (06/23/2011)

Matt Damon almost forgot what it's like to have the role of an honest nice guy. Fortunately, he definitely hasn't forgotten the art of acting, and it was mainly him, along with the excellent and natural Emily Blunt, who carried this peculiar film forward. Excellent dialogues, screenplay, and dramaturgy, some of the sci-fi elements may be unnecessary and the overall philosophy of the film is slightly over the top. But it is satisfactory within the realm of intelligent and undemanding popcorn entertainment, satisfaction. It is certainly a creation that, although fairly original in terms of premise, will not have a specific audience, but will captivate a wide range of dumb people. In most things, it is very uncontroversial and organized. I see it as a slight flaw, but fans of dumb movies will appreciate it. (09/25/2011)

On top of a clichéd romantic subplot, complete with a final dash to rescue love, there’s a lightly exaggerated sci-fi element meant to explore themes like determinism and free will. Meanwhile, the guys in hats are just a cheap bunch of cockblockers that the office director might as well have put to polishing the handles of portal doors. Maybe what was missing at the end was a little touch, like Coldplay in Wicker Park, to give it a similar impact. Instead, I endured an unconvincing whiner who hops around like a lovesick bunny after Emily Blunt (which is understandable) and the hopes I placed in Terry Stamp's post-coitum pill also went unfulfilled. Ultimately, New York itself and Anthony Mackie, who becomes another Bagger Vance for Damon, are the most effective elements. (09/13/2023)