Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau, which hit theaters March 4, is a romance, sci-fi, thriller starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. After watching this film, I must say that the conflicts and intensity of the romance between Damon’s character and Blunt’s character are akin to those of a modern "Romeo and Juliet" story.

The plot is remarkably interesting and creative. David Norris (Damon) is a highly successful young man who comes upon a rising dancer, the woman of his dreams (Blunt). However, when he meets the secret adjustment bureau that directs his fate, he learns that the woman he met is not who he is intended to end up with. Throughout the movie, David struggles with his fate and the need to keep the secrets of the adjustment bureau. As he continues to follow his fate, he realizes that no matter how successful he becomes, he remains unhappy. Yet, once he meets the girl another time by chance, they fall in love again. However, when secrets come to haunt David once more, he must make a choice between success and love.

By the end of the movie, I found the challenges and choices that the main character faced interesting and complicated. Every consequence that followed his choices was very touching. The suspense and romance in this movie gave me a rush of emotions from sadness to excitement as the couple fought to stay together. Blunt and Damon did a fantastic job with their performances. Damon’s acting ability and chemistry with Blunt made me question why he has never been cast in a romance-based movie before. Blunt also did an amazing job capturing the glimpse of a carefree woman and her performance as a dancer was exceptionally brilliant. Their great performances within the story conveyed that love conquers all even fate.

However, while I enjoyed the alluring performances and complex plot, I thought the story ended abruptly. The motion picture focused so much on the complications of the character’s elopement that it could have further developed the obstacles before the end. Overall, I enjoyed every part of the movie except for the hasty ending. Because this movie did an excellent job in portraying its message and had an atypical plot, I would rate this movie 3.5/5 stars.

Layla De Vera writes for , a publication of .

Bellevue Patch editor's note: The Adjustment Bureau is playing at in downtown Bellevue and in Crossroads.