Matt Damon is joined by Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) in this mildly entertaining tale of a politician who meets a free-spirited ballerina. The premise here is that throughout the history of the human race, we have sometimes had free will and sometimes not. God (that particular proper noun is never used) seems unable to decide . Seems he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t – if you’ll pardon the expression.When we humans fuck it up, then The Chairman takes the reigns. Our lives are predestined – controlled — in its path by men in hats who can walk through doors that are not there, or that lead to unexpected places if the handle is turned the opposite way. With me so far?
So when budding and popular politician David Norris (Damon) goes off track to pursue the girl of his dreams, an Adjustment needs to be made in his life’s path. By the bureau. Hence the title. If you can overlook all the wacky rules of this set-up, it’s at bottom a love story that has two people defying all the odds against their happiness together. Damon, and especially Blunt, almost make it work despite the odds against the actors to thoroughly entertain.
Wonder what this Phillip K. Dick short story is really about. I’ll bet it isn’t a love story. This may be one of those cases where the makers didn’t trust the source material to tell a compelling tale, so in order to spice it up, they make their own adjustments. Ironic, eh?
Chazz W 