Matt Damon, left, and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau. (Andrew Schwartz/Universal Pictures/Associated Press)

George Nolfi is a Hollywood screenwriter who's carved out a good career writing slick spy flicks (Bourne Ultimatum) and con men capers (Ocean's Twelve).  But for this, his first feature as a director, Nolfi looked to a higher power, adapting a short story by one of Lalaland's favourite sci-fi shamen, Phillip K. Dick.  (Think Minority Report, Blade Runner and Total Recall.)

If you look at the poster or trailers you could be forgiven for thinking The Adjustment Bureau is another instalment of what I call conspiracy theatre.  We see Matt Damon and Emily Blunt fleeing from fedora-wearing bad guys, through an M.C. Escher-like maze of doors and hallways. But the hard sell masks a much softer story, the kind that would be more at home with Walden Media rather than masquerading as Mad Men meets The Bourne Identity.

Spoilers ahead

The Adjustment Bureau begins with Matt Damon in a familiar pose, playing David, a man on the way up. He's a U.S. Congressman who dreams of bigger things and has the common touch. But a chance meeting with Elise, a flirtatious and forward dancer played by Emily Blunt puts him off his intended path.  Which is when the men in hats arrive.

Lead by Mad Men's John Slattery (who's mastered the art of wearing a fedora at a rakish tilt), the hat squad are humanity's helpers.  Clad in their impeccable three piece suits, they answer to the call of the "Chairman" adjusting events to keep mankind on the straight and narrow. Occasionally they've tried taking off the training wheels, and but as one of the adjusters explains, the first time they tried it, the Dark Ages occurred. The next experiment with independence resulted in World Wars One, Two and nearly Three. 

And so now we get to the nub of the problem. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Glorious, undeniable love.  But these guardian angels say the world will be better place if David and Elise stay apart. David, unsurprisingly refuses to sacrifice his free will for the greater good. What follows are somewhat silly chase scenes, where angels duck out of magic doors and jam cellphones to keep the lovers apart.

Now this is not to say spirituality has no place on the hallowed silver screen.  But The Adjustment Bureau is no Wings of Desire.  For guardians who've watched over us for centuries, it seems surprisingly little of our humanity has worn off.  Instead they stomp around and mutter like backroom boys in some bad David Mamet play.  (A notable exception is Terence Stamp an adjuster nicknamed The Hammer.   But for a performance by Stamp, you should just go watch The Limey again.)

What rescuesThe Adjustment Bureau from total unbelievability is the presence of Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Love at first sight is one of the oldest of movie cliches, but their connection is undeniable, authentic and inspiring. Director Nolfi auditioned hundreds of dancers looking for the right one to pair with Matt Damon. In the end he went with Blunt, who lacked the dancing background, but sparked on the screen. 

Somewhere in the middle of this holy hocus pocus, the angels who jump through portals and read our fates in their oversized moleskins, there lies a classic love story. The idea that your true love could be your undoing. That eternal happiness is the anti-matter of ambition. Unfortunately, The Adjustment Bureau is not that movie, just an embellished version of Touched By an Angel, dressed up as a slick sci-fi charade.

Rating: Two Fancy Fedoras out of Five.

-- by Eli Glasner