The Adjustment Bureau

From UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)

List Price:
~~$29.98~~

Price:
$15.49 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

94 new or used available from $6.10

Average customer review:
(186 customer reviews)

Product Description

THE AFFAIR BETWEEN A POLITICIAN AND A BALLERINA IS AFFECTED BY MYSTERIOUS FORCES KEEPING THE LOVERS APART.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #615 in DVD
Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
Released on: 2011-09-25
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Number of discs: 1
Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Original language: English
Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
Dubbed in: French, Spanish
Running time: 106 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Matt Damon is doing things a lot of top movie stars are sometimes scared to do: spreading his image thin among a range of roles, directors, and material. His forays away from the huge successes of, say, the Bourne movies or the Ocean's series which have highlighted his fully realized strengths as a buff action hero who can also slip effortlessly into natural comic charm aren't exactly risky. His image as a leading-man movie star is pretty much sealed, but in movies like The Informant, Invictus, Hereafter, True Grit, and others, he's stretching some different muscles that take him closer to character-actor territory. That has largely been a good thing for his fans, if not for his box-office stats. The Adjustment Bureau takes him somewhere in between--he's in leading-man territory with the Damon charisma in full bore and giving his all to a story that needs the toned actorly muscle he provides.

Based on a novelette by science-fiction icon Philip K. Dick, The Adjustment Bureau exposes a cadre of people who are either superhuman or nonhumans and control the world by magically influencing the fate of every single person in it. Damon plays David Norris, an aspiring politician who rose from working-class roots in Brooklyn (a not-so-closeted skeleton that sometimes comes back to haunt him) to wealth and the likely promise of high office. Unfortunately, David takes some liberties with his fate that don't correspond with the narrative laid out by "the Chairman," the entity in charge of the Adjustment Bureau autocrats whose matching fedoras are none-too-subtle symbols for wings. The movie evades any mention of religion, but those hats and references to the Chairman are huge winks. Emily Blunt is the equally appealing presence who screws up the Chairman's plan in concert with Norris. They fall for each other hard again and again, constantly thwarting and confounding the bureau's best-laid adjusting tricks at every turn. Though it is often simplistic in its plot contrivances, the movie is nifty, clever, nimbly paced, and filled with ingenious special effects. Especially impressive is the recurring motif of doors that are virtual wormholes--a closet that leads to the middle of Yankee stadium, an Escher-like maze of conference rooms that constantly double back on themselves (shades of the dizzying door sequence in Monsters, Inc.). Another cool visual prop are the plain bound books bureau functionaries carry that are filled with intricate, animated schematic diagrams that chart the course of a life and how it interacts with others. John Slattery, Anthony Mackie, and Terence Stamp round out the uniformly excellent cast headed by Damon and Blunt, and with the slick production design and inventive effects, the glossy performances go a long way in adjusting up any dramatic shortcomings The Adjustment Bureau may have improperly calibrated. --Ted Fry

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

93 of 107 people found the following review helpful.
Was it Your Choice to Read This Review or Your Destiny?
By Jym Cherry
There's a scene in "Citizen Kane" where one of the characters mentions seeing a beautiful girl on a trolley and he regrets not sitting next to her, and not one day goes by where he doesn't think of that girl. We all have experiences and memories like that, we wonder what our lives would have been like if we did sit next to that girl, or if we did talk to her, or get her number (undoubtedly, we lay more importance on these experiences than they may deserve. They're giant `what if' moments in our lives, the path not taken). But what if that moment of decision is the intrusion of destiny or fate? And we we're supposed to be with that person? That is the theme of "The Adjustment Bureau."
David Norris (Matt Damon) is a fast rising Congressman with a great political future. As he is set to win his race for the Senate, a revelation comes out that puts his whole political future in question. He goes into a men's room to rehearse his concession speech and meets Elise (Emily Blunt) and they feel that instant attraction of `knowing' they should be together. But circumstances pull them apart, or do they? The next day David catches an adjustment team, headed by Richardson (John Slattery) looking like he kept the wardrobe from "Mad Men." The only reason Norris witnesses this is because the adjuster assigned to him, Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie), was literally asleep on the job. Richardson convinces David that it's for the best that he forget he ever saw them and that he should forget ever meeting Elise or else his destiny won't be fulfilled. Of course David can't stop thinking of Elise and sets out to find her, and the right to choose the course of his life.
"The Adjustment Bureau" is based on a Philip K. Dick short story. For the past thirty years or so Hollywood has been availing themselves of the topsy-turvy worlds Dick created. Some of the more successful of those being "Blade Runner," "Total Recall," and "A Scanner Darkly." Where does "The Adjustment Bureau" fit in? Right in the middle with "Paycheck" Ben Affleck's Philip K. Dick based movie. Philip K. Dick's novels and short stories can really turn your head around. Dick turned reality on its head in his stories and usually turned that reality in on itself too. "The Adjustment Bureau" takes on the challenge of free will versus fate, and while it plays with it a bit it doesn't turn your head around, and leaves it a pretty simple discussion.
The acting in "The Adjustment Bureau" is fine. There are no emotional pyrotechnics or great ranges explored but the characters are believable, and the chemistry between Damon and Blunt is palpable. When they kiss at their first meeting you feel the intimacy and impulsiveness of the moment.
"The Adjustment Bureau" is a nice light movie to provoke a little post movie discussion or a nice adventure and peek behind reality's curtain. It just might be your destiny to see this movie if you make the choice to.

45 of 57 people found the following review helpful.
A romantic sci-fi suspense thrill ride!
By amerdale876
Just as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition) was a love story with a slightly different angle of sci-fi-type themes, "The Adjustment Bureau" is a sci-fi/suspense love story. It may seem a bit out there or far-fetched, but, trust me, it works! Matt Damon and Emily Blunt have amazing chemistry together; it's easy to root for these two as they take on the agency that's doing everything within their unlimited power to keep them apart. The movie, based on a story by Philip K. Dick (also responsible for Blade Runner - The Final Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition), Paycheck (Special Collector's Edition), Minority Report (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition), Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Screamers, Next), does well with its story and pacing. The acting is well done and it definitely has "multiple viewing" potential (especially for fans of Damon and Blunt). The great thing about this film, though, is not just the overall idea of the film, but also the questions that arise from such a film. Would you sacrifice a better life for your love? This film explores that idea with both sides being equally explored. "Adjustment Bureau" is one of the best of the year so far and highly enjoyable.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
The script is what needed Adjustment
By Bryan Creel
I can't add Adjustment Bureau to the list of Philip K Dick adapted films that I like. It is rather sappy and also entirely predictable. You know those films where from the beginning you think, "I hope this doesn't end the the way I'm expecting it to from the first 10 minutes"? Well, this is one of them. I also feel that it fails as an exploration of religion and free will. I hope someone can tell me the short story was better.
The acting and production were perfectly competent. But this is an archetypical story that's been told so many times it needs a little something extra for me to be interested these days. Maybe I've seen too many movies.