The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Philip K. Dick is one of those authors many directors go to when they want to make a "smart" science fiction film.  It may not always result in box office magic - it took years for Blade Runner to truly be seen as it was supposed to and to overcome the idea of being a failure - but a movie based on one of Dick's short stories or novels has a good chance of playing the long game.  It doesn't hurt that some of his earlier material, such as the short story "The Adjustment Team", is in the public domain.

As with most things in public domain it also means that the writer and director, in this case both being George Nolfi, are able to do pretty much what they want.  It isn't like that's stopped most people adapting Dick material, most of it still in copyright, doing the same thing since the author isn't around to voice his displeasure or agreement.  Still, it does give one quite a bit of leeway, particularly since the original was about a non-descript real estate agent suddenly seeing behind the fabric of reality and having to live with the secret.  Nolfi changed it into a romantic story but, surprisingly, a good deal of the source material is still here. 

David Norris (Matt Damon) is a highly popular representative for a district in New York who, at the urging of his best friend Charlie (Michael Kelly) makes a Senate run.  When embarrassing photos taken at a school reunion appear it dashes his hope but, after a chance meeting with a woman named Elise (Emily Blunt), he gives a concession speech which increases his popularity, positioning him to run again during the next general election.  Until then he is offered a job with Charlie at a major consulting firm.  It turns out his life is being carefully guided and planned by a clerk named Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie), who falls asleep on the job, thus setting off a new chain of events. 

Rather than be delayed getting to the office two things happen: he again runs into Elise, and this time gets her name and number, and he arrives early to see an adjustment team making changes to the people at his work.  He is pursued and eventually caught by Richardson (John Slattery), Harry's boss, who explains to him that he can go ahead with his life as long as he keeps his mouth shut, under penalty of having his whole personality erased if not.  He is also never again to see Elise.  Three years later he finds her again, setting an entire new series of events in motion as a new division led by a man named Thompson (Terence Stamp) attempts to put things permanently back on track.

The mistake leading to the chance encounter with the adjustment team and the pledge to keep it a secret are what makes up the original story, with the hint that the person in charge of everything, whom the original protagonist Ed Fletcher meets, is God.  Here that person is referred to as the Chairman, and David's attempts to get to the Chairman make up a good portion of the latter part of the movie.  It was in fact supposed to be revealed that it was in fact a woman, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, who was in charge, but it was changed at the last moment because studio executives were concerned about the fact that Aghdashloo, although not practicing, had been born Muslim.  Fearing backlash the whole sequence was removed.

While I love Aghdashloo, and it would have been an interesting reveal (although one already done by Kevin Smith in Dogma, with Alanis Morrissette playing God), I think that the way The Adjustment Bureau ends gives it a bit more gravity and also keeps David Norris from being a Gary Stu.  Although he has flaws such as a quick temper and often a lack of maturity, Norris for the most part is everything one would want in a politician and finds himself constantly being told how great he is.  The fact that he can't have everything is a bit refreshing. 

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are reliable in their roles, and George Nolfi takes advantage of being able to film on location in and around New York City, something even most big budget films cut costs on by substituting Toronto or Vancouver.  The Adjustment Bureau is modestly budgeted, but it still pretty much petered out at the box office.  Like many Philip K. Dick adaptations it has seen new life since, finding an audience that appreciates both the romance and fantasy aspects of the story, which to Nolfi's credit work well.  The original short story may have made a good Twilight Zone episode, but Nolfi figured out how to make the plot interesting despite the ending itself being a bit too Hollywood. 

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Time: 106 minutes

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Michael Kelly, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Terence Stamp

Director: George Nolfi