The Adjustment Bureau Cinema Review

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Reviewed by Cas Harlow, 14th March 2011.
Great premise. Great chemistry. But misleading advertising, a tempered audience-friendly romantic narrative and a thoroughly anticlimactic payoff leaves The Adjustment Bureau pretty far from being 2011’s answer to Inception. Taking the potential from a great Phillip K. Dick short story, the movie squanders its opportunity for deeper theological undercurrents, playing it safe and, despite its original ideas, ending up sitting squarely in cliché territory. With few thrills, and even less action, it’s pure rom-com all the way, just dressed up with a sci-fi twist. But this is one of the areas it doesn’t do so bad in – the chemistry between the two leads sparking a convincing romantic thread; and the natural charm and wit of both of them also allowing the audience a chuckle while they’re waiting, in vain, for some thrills. Don’t be fooled by the superior premise, go into it with open eyes, and expect a fairly lightweight sci-fi romance, with a good sense of humour. That way you won’t be disappointed. Me? I’ve already got my eyes set on the next interesting project – promoted in one of the trailers before this movie – a movie called Hanna. It’s about a teenage girl who happens to also be a highly trained killer. Hang on, don’t switch off yet. This one’s directed by Joe Wright, the guy behind Atonement, and stars Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, and the little girl from The Lovely Bones in the title role. Trust me, it looks pretty special. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to secretly turn out to be a romantic comedy either.


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Saw it today and have to agree though going by the 7 you gave it, you enjoyed a lot more than me - I thought it was a pretty average 5 to be honest - though could well turn out to be the first of a new genre - Sci Fi Chick Flick...
 
Saw it today and have to agree though going by the 7 you gave it, you enjoyed a lot more than me - I thought it was a pretty average 5 to be honest - though could well turn out to be the first of a new genre - Sci Fi Chick Flick...

Scoring's always difficult, but considering I gave Twilight a 6, and enjoyed this more, I couldn't afford it less. Pity we don't have 6+ and 7- lol.

Yep it's funny about the sci-fi chick flick thing, what I can't understand is why they didn't market it more in that direction. Did they think it would flop like Time Traveller's Wife or something? Because I can't see how the audience that the movie was pitched for won't feel somewhat robbed by what they end up seeing...
 
Scoring's always difficult, but considering I gave Twilight a 6, and enjoyed this more, I couldn't afford it less. Pity we don't have 6+ and 7- lol.

Yep it's funny about the sci-fi chick flick thing, what I can't understand is why they didn't market it more in that direction. Did they think it would flop like Time Traveller's Wife or something? Because I can't see how the audience that the movie was pitched for won't feel somewhat robbed by what they end up seeing...

Strange, I seem to remember "TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE" being at No.1 in the UK for a few weeks and doing very good business. :confused:
 
Strange, I seem to remember "TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE" being at No.1 in the UK for a few weeks and doing very good business. :confused:

Apologies, I forgot that there's seldom any accounting for taste in Box Office returns. I assumed from the critical reaction it hadn't done well, but you are indeed correct, it was a financial success.

Guess I should rephrase it to:

Perhaps the studios were afraid audience would be still cautious of sci-fi chick flicks after the bitter aftertaste that Time Traveler's Wife left in their mouthes..
 
Apologies, I forgot that there's seldom any accounting for taste in Box Office returns. I assumed from the critical reaction it hadn't done well, but you are indeed correct, it was a financial success.

Guess I should rephrase it to:

Perhaps the studios were afraid audience would be still cautious of sci-fi chick flicks after the bitter aftertaste that Time Traveler's Wife left in their mouthes..

That's o.k. Cas. You may have been in the bath at the time... doing the Podcast. ;)

I think all these kinds of chick-flick films get a critical drubbing. It's just what seems to happen. Some do well at the boxoffice regardless... others don't.

Nice review though... thanks buddy! :thumbsup:
 
The chick flick side of me caught me totally unawares when I saw it...I knew there was a lovey dovey bit in it somewhere but I didn't expect it to dominate the whole proceedings...I don't think I actually know what I expected to be honest...:confused: But it certainly wasn't what I saw...I think if this were a hard sell product, the makers could be liable for mis-selling their whares as the poster, trailer and all the rest certainly didn't point to what I saw onscreen.
 
It's funny because Monsters did well at the whole sci-fi romance thing, without going all-out chick-flick. And the audiences AND critics quite liked that, although it must be something of an exception.

Ironically the title 'Monsters' itself was also arguably a matter of mis-selling. And I really don't understand why Studios think it's a good idea to pitch their products inaccurately. In the case of Monsters, it gave the impression it would be some kind of sci-fi 'creature' movie like Aliens, and in the case of Adjustment Bureau, they made it look more like a bigger budget glossy version of Dark City - in both cases surely losing out on the real target audience.
 
It's funny because Monsters did well at the whole sci-fi romance thing, without going all-out chick-flick. And the audiences AND critics quite liked that, although it must be something of an exception.

Ironically the title 'Monsters' itself was also arguably a matter of mis-selling. And I really don't understand why Studios think it's a good idea to pitch their products inaccurately. In the case of Monsters, it gave the impression it would be some kind of sci-fi 'creature' movie like Aliens, and in the case of Adjustment Bureau, they made it look more like a bigger budget glossy version of Dark City - in both cases surely losing out on the real target audience.

Spot on mate!
 
Hmph, I was really up for seeing this, what with the whole '2011's answer to Inception' thing, but it looks this is another case of bad promo, and that this is really likely one to stay clear of, at least until it comes out to rent... Nice review though and yes, following on from the previous comments, very much agree about Monsters, extremely misleading title for what was actually a very different, but still great movie.
 

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