Imagine Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan dining at Katz’s Deli, enjoying some witty repartee as Harry and Sally. Now imagine Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus suddenly joining their meal, sitting beside them in all his sunglass and trench coat–wearing glory. Doesn’t quite fit, does it? Similar awkwardness spans two disdainful hours in The Adjustment Bureau.
Matt Damon plays David Norris, a young, rogue politician running for Senator of New York. When he meets Elise Sellas (Blunt) in a bathroom, they instantly fall in love. For an unknown reason, a few Matrix–esque men with magic notebooks don’t like this at all. Their “Chairman,” a mysterious, God–like figure, has a life plan for every human being and this relationship is not part of the plan. His men do everything in their power to keep David and Elise apart, and thus David spends the entire film fighting for the love of his life, trying to evade his fate.
Unfortunately, watching The Adjustment Bureau feels like watching two separate movies, neither of which is developed enough. There is the romantic comedy, which has the potential to offer an entertaining love story but fails on many levels, and there’s the action thriller, whose intensity parallels that of Agent Cody Banks.
In the rom–com sector, the film offers no build–up to the passion David and Elise feel for one another. The moment they meet, they fervently kiss and remain madly in love for the rest of the film.
On the thriller front, there is simply no rising action in the script, no musically empowered edge–of–your–seat suspense where you have no idea what might happen next. The story remains on one placid level throughout.
It is always entertaining to stare at Matt Damon for a couple hours, but that experience would have been even better had these asinine men in trench coats stopped popping into a love story where they don’t belong. The charming banter between David and Elise is too light to coincide with the Bureau men infiltrating their scenes. As a result, the so–called action sequences seem silly and out of place.
The story might have worked as a satirical, Judd Apatow–type film where all of the exaggerations are meant to be ridiculous. Instead, the plot gets stuck in a strange limbo between seriousness and hilarity that simply perplexes the audience.
1.5/5 Stars Directed by: George Nolfi Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt Rated PG-13, 105 min.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJ0TP4nTaE
