A Good Adjustment

Today, I started playing catch-up on movies from last weekend and went to see The Adjustment Bureau. I didn't know there were any Phillip K. Dick stories left that haven't already been made into movies, but here you go.

Though advertised in the trailers as a "run from the conspiracy" sort of suspense thriller -- and it does have elements of that -- the movie also has more going on. The core of the plot is a romance, and the major theme is a philosophical examination of free will vs. fate, with a healthy dose of religious/spiritual undertones. In many ways, this concoction has a fair amount in common with the TV series Lost, though told in under two hours rather than over 100 episodes.

In any case, I found it to be a fairly successful mix. Of course, any love story can only work if the couple at the heart of it has heart, a real chemistry. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt do. Fortunately, it's not just a case where both performers have been good in other films, and are again here -- the two are actually good together.

Anchoring the "conspiracy" side of the movie are John Slattery and Terence Stamp. Both are ostensibly the "bad guys," though there are characters working for the titular "Adjustment Bureau" of all different levels of sympathy for the protagonist. John Slattery falls in the middle of the spectrum, while Terence Stamp embodies the biggest "heavy" of the movie. Both are compelling in their roles.

But while the film is possibly more than I expected (in that there's more to it than I expected), it doesn't quite cross the line into exceptional. All the elements work, though none is superb. The conspiracy elements are tense but not gripping. The romance is sweet but not touching. The moral questions are thoughtful, but not presented in a profound way.

In short, it's a solid movie, maybe even commendable for typical March movie fare. Worth recommending, but not likely to be a "best of the year" contender when all is said and done. I rate it a B.