The Adjustment Bureau
Metascore
60 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 41 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 41
  3. Negative: 2 out of 41
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  1. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Calvin Wilson
    Mar 4, 2011
    100
    An exhilarating balancing act, at once a science-fiction romp, a paranoid thriller and a philosophical treatise.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    Mar 3, 2011
    100
    The main thing that keeps audiences glued throughout its running time is that it's a love story, easily one of the best American love stories of the past year.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    Mar 3, 2011
    90
    One reason filmmakers like Mr. Nolfi seem attracted to Philip K. Dick's work, beyond the brilliance of its ideas, is that his unembellished writing style leaves them room to make the stories visually their own.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    Mar 3, 2011
    88
    Equal parts playful, sophisticated and engrossing, The Adjustment Bureau is like the first songbird of spring, signaling that the winter of our collective brain-freeze is over and it's safe to go back to the multiplex.
  5. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    Mar 4, 2011
    83
    If the head of the bureau is God, then why is he played by Terence Stamp and not Morgan Freeman?
  6. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    Mar 4, 2011
    80
    Nolfi's dialogue is lean and often funny, while Damon and Blunt play appealing and clearly delineated characters drawn together by the kind of old-fashioned romantic passion you don't often see in contemporary movies.
  7. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Pam Grady
    Feb 28, 2011
    80
    The action, fantasy and suspense elements are all highly enjoyable, but if the romance didn't work this movie would fall apart.
  8. Empire
    Reviewed by: Helen OHara
    Feb 28, 2011
    80
    By keeping the pace quick, the explanation light and the characters strong, Nolfi achieves the near-impossible: a film puzzle you won't mind leaving unexplained.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    Feb 24, 2011
    80
    George Nofi pulls off a relative rarity in his feature film debut by creating a genuinely romantic fantasy suspense thriller.
  10. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    Mar 3, 2011
    78
    The Adjustment Bureau is, above all, a romance of chance and chaos theory of the heart. (In this respect, some viewers will recognize it as kin to the early Gwyneth Paltrow fantasy "Sliding Doors.")
  11. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    Mar 4, 2011
    75
    Ultimately, The Adjustment Bureau shifts from paranoid dystopia to a more hopeful tenor, and that weakens it slightly.
  12. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Mar 4, 2011
    75
    A smart and good movie that could have been a great one if it had a little more daring.
  13. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Mar 4, 2011
    75
    Not the deepest stuff, but thought-provoking all the same -- and entertaining to boot.
  14. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    Mar 3, 2011
    75
    What's striking about the picture, I think, is its lack of violent threat.
  15. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    Mar 2, 2011
    75
    Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Adjustment Bureau is that, irrespective of the misdirection of the trailers and T.V. spots, this is more of a romance than a science fiction thriller.
  16. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    Mar 2, 2011
    75
    An enjoyable piece of hokum – your basic doom-laden parable of metaphysical sci-fi mind control, only with a surprise romantic sparkle.
  17. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    Mar 3, 2011
    70
    What emerges from the chaos may be uneven and at times ridiculous, but it's never boring.
  18. NPR
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Mar 3, 2011
    70
    Everybody loves a do-over, but this could become tedious were it not for the undeniable chemistry of the two leads, whose dialogue crackles like cellophane.
  19. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Mar 3, 2011
    70
    What results, against some odds, is an intriguing entertainment. Adjustment Bureau's central concept is certainly ingenious, but the details are a little wonky and don't stand up to too much scrutiny.
  20. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    Mar 3, 2011
    63
    Compelling enough, a sort of "Inception"-lite, but the plot holes take it off course.
  21. Orlando Sentinel
    Reviewed by: Roger Moore
    Mar 2, 2011
    63
    This "Inception" meets "Made in Heaven" by way of "They Live" is also the screwiest movie Matt Damon has been in since, what, "Dogma?"
  22. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Mar 4, 2011
    60
    Unfortunately, the fantasy-thriller they're in eventually falls apart, becoming a much sillier, less substantial movie than its lead actors deserve.
  23. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Mar 2, 2011
    60
    Ultimately it's not the lives of the characters that need adjusting here. It's the story itself.
  24. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Mar 1, 2011
    60
    You outsmart the movie way too soon.
  25. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    Feb 24, 2011
    60
    Its fun first hour soon gives way to a leaden, expository approach that unwisely favors emotional stakes over speculative-fiction smarts.
  26. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    Mar 7, 2011
    50
    It's a clever idea that, around the mid-point, stumbles into absurdity as the movie itself makes too many lunatic choices.
  27. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    Mar 4, 2011
    50
    The misleading trailers for the supremely goofy The Adjustment Bureau promise action-packed sci-fi. What you actually get is a love-struck Matt Damon running for the US Senate as he's stalked by fedora-wearing angels.
  28. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    Sometimes, a strong premise makes for a weak movie, which ends up drowning in its own clever conceit.
  29. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    Two movies for the price of one, though only one of them-a fragmented romance within a ponderous parable-qualifies as a bargain.
  30. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    A movie where the action scenes feel like filler, the romantic leads have little magnetism, and, before long, its metaphysical underpinnings fall to pieces.
  31. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    Whether this movie works for you largely depends on whether you're willing to work for it. To which I say: Bring your gym clothes.
  32. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    A stupid waste of time and talent, but it might be just what his (Damon) fans are waiting for.
  33. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    So despite fine acting and swift pacing and well-managed effects, it falls apart.
  34. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    Mar 3, 2011
    50
    As in Christopher Nolan's Inception, the premise is so mind-boggling and fraught with implications that it tends to obviate the action mechanics of the last couple reels.
  35. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    Mar 2, 2011
    50
    The so-called Plan is derailed!
  36. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    Feb 28, 2011
    50
    Strange, empty movie, a metaphysical Cracker Jack box without a prize in its empty-calorie depths.
  37. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    Mar 3, 2011
    42
    It's too little premise stretched over too much movie, and while the cast gives it their all, Nolfi's characterless direction only makes the movie feel that much slighter.
  38. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    Mar 3, 2011
    40
    Maddeningly repetitious.
  39. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    Feb 28, 2011
    40
    The doughy Damon and aristocratic Blunt don't match up physically, and they never get any Hepburn-Tracy rhythms going that might create some current.
  40. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    Mar 3, 2011
    38
    What Dick rendered potent, Nolfi renders preposterous.
  41. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    Mar 2, 2011
    25
    There's a startling moment 10 or 15 minutes into The Adjustment Bureau - the only time, really, when the film achieves any level of surprise. The dispiriting dullness of this dreary misfire hasn't had time to settle in and thicken: The movie hasn't yet revealed its utter and thorough ineptitude.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 295 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 89
  3. Negative: 9 out of 89
  1. grandpajoe6191
    6
    "The Adjustment Bureau" barely stays alive from its cliched script and its fragile plot. However, it is only the chemistry between Ms. Blunt and Mr. Damon that increases the value of the movie.… Full Review »
  2. Shiira
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. In Hirozaku Kore-eda's "Wandafuru Raifu", the recently dead get to make a movie that recounts their happiest moment which will play in an endless loop for all of eternity. Heaven is a short film. But before the person makes it to this celluloidal after life, the subject must sit through pre-production meetings conducted by angels, who look about as ordinary as Harry(Anthony Mackie) does, as well as the other fedora-ed men in "The Adjustment Bureau". The interview process, in which the vignettes are collected for the subsequent shootings, are held at a sort of way station, a decrepit-looking building that resembles a social services institution, the anti-thesis of the usual iconography associated with heaven. Heaven has an indie aesthetic. Angels with harps, the pearly gates, clouds- those overused tropes are too Hollywood. "Wandafuru Raifu", in its eccentric depiction of the hereafter, stood apart from the usual religious genre fare with the truly radical idea that our creator is actually an omnipotent studio head. Heaven is art, seemingly without any ties to organized religion. The same heaven-as-bureaucracy angle is also prevalent in "The Adjustment Bureau", where heaven has an annex on Earth which looks conspicuously like an insurance company building. When David Norris(Matt Damon) discovers that the world is being micro-managed by "case workers"(read: angels), then defies their grand plans for him by his insistence on pursuing Elise(Emily Blunt), a woman he was supposed to meet just once, the men in hats "kick" the case "upstairs". The "chairman"(read: God) send down an archangel-type named Thompson(Terrence Stamp), who informs the senator hopeful that free-will doesn't exist, only the appearance of it. The men who work for the Adjustment Bureau function as architects of predestination. In the Kore-eda film, free will, likewise, turns out to be an illusion, as well, since the movie that the people are collaborating with god on requires a script. A script suggests that everything is written out ahead of time, a collection of life experiences that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. For David, his happiest memory(were he an interviewee in "Wandafuru Raifu") may very well be the moment he says, "I love you," to Elise on the rooftop, kissing his muse as if it was for the last time, so he kisses her hard, while the bureaucrats approach the couple with the intent of "resetting" their mental faculties. Prior to being trapped on the terrace overlooking New York City, the fleeting lovers, in a sense, make their own movie, as they ingress into new locales with each turn of the knob, like editors, surveying the city in the blink of an eye. Their whirlwind jaunt through the urban landscape can be construed as a metaphor for how love has its own velocity when you're with the one you love. Whipping through Yankee Stadium, Times Square, and Ellis Island, time seems to move too fast. Time just slips away. Time passes you by. If David and Elise kiss each other deeply enough, the future amnesiacs hope that perhaps some vestige of their affinity for each other will survive. Maybe they'll find each other, similar to how Joel Barish(Jim Carrey) and Clementine Kruczynski(Kate Winslet) think they're meeting for the first time on that train to Montauk at the outset of Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Lucky for the politician and the dancer, but unlucky for the fortunes of the film, their undying love never gets tested, because "the chairman" is a Judeo-Christian figure, whereas in the Gondry film, traces of Buddhism can be detected in the way the victimized Lacuna customers are able to recognize each other, which subtly suggests reincarnation, a concept commonly associated with eastern religions. The ending to "The Adjustment Bureau", in what is otherwise an entertaining mish-mash of reasonably sophisticated sci-fi and high romance, is sort of a cheat(or maybe not). God is perfect, right? Hypothetically, when does God ever change his mind? In Carl Reiner's "Oh, God", George Burns, playing our heavenly father, admits to making the pits in avocados too big, but he lets the imperfection remain as is. After forty years of presiding over earth under a working predestination model, now the chairman wants to give free will one more try? C'mon, now. The last time people were entrusted with free will, as previously stated earlier in the film by Thompson, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. What if God didn't issue this edict? When Harry is summoned to the Chairman's chambers, what if the angel staged a coup, and took over the reigns of power? Maybe the Salon writer is right. Maybe Harry is the devil.… Full Review »
  3. Tony
    8
    A fun, breezy genre hybrid. Parts sci-fi, romance, and thriller, The Adjustment Bureau has a light tone and does not appear to aspire to challenge its more complex sci-fi counterparts.… Full Review »
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