The Adjustment Bureau (2011) stars Matt Damon as Senate candidate David Norris.  He has been tapped by an unseen group to win a seat in the Senate . . . just not this election year.  If you were to read the basic plot of the movie it would sound like a typical political thriller.  An unseen group is grooming its candidate for a high office.  Suddenly this candidate becomes enthralled with a woman who they believe will be detrimental to his career and the group’s agenda.  This unknown organization begins to exert every effort to keep their candidate away from the woman and focused on the job at hand.  As the candidate continues to try to find the woman he loves he begins to find out more about this hidden organization and begins to fight against their control and seek his own way.

Dull, been there, done that.  It’s just not that interesting. It’s been done hundreds of times.  However, The Adjustment Bureau turns out not be some self-serving political group; they are in reality angels [for lack of a better word] charged with keeping the world moving ahead according to a master plan to improve the life of the people of the earth, albeit very slowly.  The woman was used to inspire a concession speech that would guarantee David’s success in the next election, and then she was to be forgotten and never seen by him again.  The only problem is that despite their efforts David Norris just can’t get her out of his mind and he continues to fight their efforts to keep them apart.  

The Adjustment Bureau is not a thriller in the traditional sense.  There are no gun fights, no real car chases.  The film has a bit of a Capraesque feel to it; the little man fighting against the large anonymous organization.  This is a “feel” I must enjoy because many of my favorite films fall into this category. I’ve watched this film over and over again over the last two years …Well, really I’ve only watched it twice, but I have watched the opening concession speech near the beginning of the film at least ten times.  It is one of my favorite film speeches. What can I say? I would have voted for him after hearing it.