'The Adjustment Bureau'review: Matt Damon and Emily Blunt's hot date deserves a better fate

WithMatt Damon,Emily Blunt. A man discovers a secret group has plans for him. Director:George Nolfi(1:39). PG-13: Violence. At area theaters.

Connection is everything, in movies as in life. And in the first half of"The Adjustment Bureau,"the surprisingly perfect matchup of Matt Damon and Emily Blunt sneaks up on you.

From their characters' first meeting through their subsequent run-ins and romance, these two banter and flirt and give a master class in screen chemistry.

Unfortunately, the fantasy-thriller they're in eventually falls apart, becoming a much sillier, less substantial movie than its lead actors deserve. If only writer-director George Nolfi had followed
their lead, everything would have wound up where it was supposed to.

Winding up in the right place is the dilemma facingDavid Norris(Damon), a charismatic youngBrooklyncongressman vying for a Senate seat. After suffering a political setback due to a minor scandal, David meets Elise (Blunt) by accident, and the electric pull between them makes him think there's more to life than following his previous path.

That, unfortunately, goes against the plans of the mysterious men in hats lurking on the edges of David's life. When he catches these"case officers"in the midst of a job (his co-workers have been frozen in place and his workplace is being"adjusted"),
David discovers their secret.

No spoilers here, but the top caseworker (slitheryJohn Slattery) and his sympathetic
underling (Anthony Mackie) reveal that David and Elise were fated to meet— in the '70s, '80s and '90s — but were kept apart. They can't stop running into each other now, though everyone's future may go off track if they fall in love. And powerful forces don't want that to happen.

Early sections of"The Adjustment Bureau"unfold with the energy and verve of such paranoid classics as"The Parallax View,"and it creates a meta political landscape, as everyone fromMayor BloombergtoJon Stewarthas a cameo with"Red Hook's senator-to-be."

Meanwhile, Slattery ("Mad Men") amuses as a quirky man in a gray flannel suit, andTerence Stampis sneeringly dismissive as Slattery's chief.

But then the movie, based on a 1954 short story byPhilip K. Dick— whose work inspired"Blade Runner"and"Minority Report"— loses its footing. The final section devolves into an"Inception"-lite pursuit (though this was filmed in 2009), involving doors that lead to anyplace inManhattan. Wearing a caseworker's"magical"snap brim to navigate their world, Damon looks like Sinatra during hisCapitol Recordsyears, instantly going fromYankee StadiumtoSoHotoLiberty Island.

The mystery's resolution, while taken from the original story, is too simplistic, as is the need to keep David and Elise from"a real kiss."

Damon and Blunt have it in them to support the fairy-tale feel; the fault for the film's collapse lies not with the stars, but in the script's easy way out. Even chemistry needs a great last act.

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