7/10
I was in the mood for a fun popcorn movie and there's slim pickings at the multiplex in March, so The Adjustment Bureau won out. And to be honest, it was better than I thought it would be. The plot (a man has to fight against the invisible forces that control our everyday lives to be with the woman he loves) isn't revelatory and can certainly be goofy at times, but it does the job. Matt Damon is good in a role he could probably do in his sleep by now and Emily Blunt is charming, but John Slattery as one of the Bureau's agents was the show-stealer for me. One would assume from the trailers and ads that this film would be overly grim, life-and-death stuff, but it's surprisingly fun and airy, which is part of the reason it works better than it should. Slattery's character contributes to this - we'd expect him to be the kind of straight-laced, emotionless, suit-wearing drones these types of films often begat (Terence Stamp shows up as one eventually) but he plays his role with a kind of wry aloofness, subtle but very engaging. Between him and the effortless banter between Damon and Blunt, there's fun to be had here, even if there are a few cringes along the way. You could do worse for a couple of hours of entertainment, in any case.
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