The Adjustment Bureau is a 2011 American romantic science fiction thriller film loosely based
on the Philip K. Dick short story, "Adjustment Team".
The film was written and directed by George Nolfi and stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt.
The cast also includes Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Michael Kelly, and Terence Stamp.
Plot In 2006, Brooklyn Congressman David Norris
unsuccessfully runs for the United States Senate.
While rehearsing his concession speech, David meets Elise Sellas, and they share a passionate
kiss, though he does not get her name.
Inspired by her, David delivers an unusually candid speech that is well-received, making
him a favorite for the 2010 Senate race.
A month later, David prepares for a new job.
At Madison Square Park, near David's home, a man named Harry Mitchell receives an assignment
from Richardson, his boss: ensure David spills coffee on his shirt by 7:05 AM so he misses
his bus.
Mitchell falls asleep and misses David, who encounters Elise again on the bus and gets
her phone number.
David arrives at work to find his friend Charlie Traynor frozen in time and being examined
by unfamiliar men in suits.
David attempts to escape, but is incapacitated and taken to a warehouse.
Richardson explains he and his men are from the "Adjustment Bureau".
They ensure people's lives proceed as determined by "the Plan", a complex document Richardson
attributes to "the Chairman".
The Bureau confiscates and destroys the note that contains Elise's phone number, and David
is warned that if he ever reveals the existence of the Bureau to anyone else, he will be "reset"—akin
to being lobotomized—and that he is not meant to meet Elise again.
Three years later, after boarding a bus, David encounters Elise; he tells her he had spent
three years riding that bus to work, hoping to see her again.
He learns that she dances for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.
The Bureau tries to stop him from renewing their relationship by altering their schedules.
David races across town, fighting the Bureau's abilities to "control his choices" to ensure
he will meet Elise.
During the chase the Bureau uses ordinary doorways to travel instantly to locations
many blocks away.
Senior official Thompson takes over David's adjustment and takes him to the warehouse,
where David argues he has the right to choose his own path.
Thompson says humanity received free will after the height of the Roman Empire, but
then brought the Dark Ages upon itself.
The Bureau took control again after five centuries of barbarism with no signs of ending, and
created the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, but when free will was once again granted
in 1910 it resulted in the world wars, the Holocaust, and the Cold War, again forcing
the Bureau to retake control.
Thompson implies that without Elise's influence David might become President of the United
States and benefit the world, and warns that if he stays with her, he will ruin both of
their futures.
Thompson causes Elise to sprain her ankle at a performance to demonstrate his power,
and David abandons her at the hospital to save them from the fate Thompson described.
Eleven months later, Charlie tells David of Elise's imminent wedding as he campaigns again.
Harry contacts David via secret meetings in the rain or near water, which prevents the
Bureau from tracking them.
Harry reveals that Thompson exaggerated the negative consequences of David and Elise's
relationship, and teaches David how to use doors to teleport, and evade the Bureau's
adjustments.
Just before the wedding David reaches Elise, reveals the Bureau's existence to her, and
shows her how he travels through doors.
The Bureau pursues them across New York City.
David decides to find the Chairman to end the chase; Elise wavers briefly, but accompanies
David.
They enter the Bureau's offices and evade its forces.
David and Elise find themselves trapped and surrounded on the observation deck of the
GE Building.
They mutually declare their love and kiss before David can be reset.
When they let go of each other, the Bureau members have gone.
Thompson appears but is interrupted by Harry, who shows him a revised Plan from the Chairman:
one that is blank starting with the current moment.
After commending them for their devotion to each other, Harry tells the couple they are
free to leave.
The film concludes with David and Elise walking through the streets, as Harry speculates that
the Chairman's goal may be to prepare humanity so it can write its own "Plans".
Cast Matt Damon as David Norris
Emily Blunt as Elise Sellas Anthony Mackie as Harry Mitchell
John Slattery as Richardson Michael Kelly as Charlie Traynor
Terence Stamp as Thompson Donnie Keshawarz as Donaldson
Anthony Ruivivar as McCrady David Bishins as Burdensky
Jennifer Ehle as a bartender Jessica Lee Keller as Lauren, Elise's best
friend Jon Stewart, Dan Bazile, Chuck Scarborough,
James Carville, Mary Matalin, Betty Liu, Jesse Jackson, Wolf Blitzer, and Michael Bloomberg
all have cameos as themselves.
Production In early drafts, the character Norris was
changed from a real-estate salesman, as in the short story, to an up-and-coming politician.
Media Rights Capital funded the film and then auctioned it to distributors, with Universal
Studios putting in the winning bid for $62 million.
Variety reported Damon's involvement on February 24, 2009, and Blunt's on July 14, 2009.
The film was released on March 4, 2011.
Nolfi worked with John Toll as his cinematographer.
Shots were planned in advance with storyboards, but changed often during shooting to fit the
conditions of the day.
The visual plan for the film was to keep the camerawork smooth using a dolly or crane and
have controlled formal shots when the Adjustment Bureau was in full control, with things becoming
more loose and using hand-held cameras when the story becomes less controlled.
The final scene on the "Top of the Rock" rooftop observation deck of the GE Building in Rockefeller
Center was filmed four months after the rest of the film had completed shooting and has
a different ending from the original.
Original ending According to Nolfi there was an alternative
ending that featured the chairman:
[I]nitially I was going to show the chairman.
The chairman was going to be in female form, too.
Ultimately, while making the movie, I realized how important it was going to be for people
to put their own beliefs in the end and not foreclose that.
I don’t think the scene would have foreclosed peoples’ beliefs, but the more I could hint
at it and the less explicit I could be about it, it wasn’t enough to hint about it in
the dialog and have an actual person there acting it.
I just had to not show the chairman, so I ended up not going that way.
More than two years later, another explanation was made public.
In her 2013 memoir, Iranian American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, the woman who portrayed
the Chairman in the original ending, said Nolfi gave her an explanation that differs
from what he had said in 2011, upon the film's release; he blamed Universal Pictures for
the change to the ending:
I loved that role.
As actors, we all know we're at the mercy of the editing table, but not to this extent,
never had I experienced it.
The director, George Nolfi, decided I should play God.
Everything went great until I got a call from the director who was asking to have lunch
with me.
He was on the verge of crying.
He said, the distribution company believes that you cannot play this role.
Religious themes Some reviewers identified Abrahamic theological
implications, such as an omnipotent and omniscient God, the concepts of free will and predestination,
and elements from the descent to the underworld.
Moreover, it has been said that the Chairman represents God, while his caseworkers are
angels.
The director of the film, George Nolfi, stated that the "intention of this film is to raise
questions."
Release The film had its world premiere on February
14, 2011, at the Ziegfeld Theatre on 141 West 54th Street in New York City.
Writer/director George Nolfi was in attendance along with the cast, including Matt Damon
and Emily Blunt.
Music The score was composed by Thomas Newman, with
two songs by Richard Ashcroft.
Home media The Adjustment Bureau was released on DVD
and Blu-ray Disc on June 21, 2011.
The film was the top selling release for its opening week.
Reception Critical response
Critics generally gave the film positive reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 72% based on 237 reviews, with an average
rating of 6.6 out of 10.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, describing
it as "a smart and good movie that could have been a great one, if it had been a little
more daring.
I suspect the filmmakers were reluctant to follow its implications too far."The New York
Times called the film "a fast, sure film about finding and keeping love across time and space
. . . [that] has brightened the season with a witty mix of science-fiction metaphysics
and old-fashioned romance."
Box office In its opening weekend in the United States,
The Adjustment Bureau grossed $21,157,730, which was the second most of any film that
weekend, behind Rango.
Its total worldwide gross is $127,869,379 as of December 18, 2011.
See also A Matter of Minutes
The Tunnel under the World Dark City
References
External links Official website
'Adjustment Bureau' Lawsuit – Media Rights Capital Fires Back With Own Court Action Deadline
The Adjustment Bureau at the Internet Movie Database
The Adjustment Bureau at AllMovie The Adjustment Bureau at Box Office Mojo
The Adjustment Bureau at The Numbers The Adjustment Bureau at Rotten Tomatoes
The Adjustment Bureau at Metacritic