This Week At the Movies

Decisions, decisions – or, the lack thereof.

That’s the subject of two of this week’s film releases, “The Adjustment Bureau” and “Take Me Home Tonight,” although one is a sci-fi noir written by Philip K. Dick (“Blade Runner”) and the other is an ode to aimlessness set in the late 1980s.

“Bureau,” adapted from Dick’s short story “The Adjustment Team” by director George Nolfi, moves along swiftly for much of its running time - that is, until it attempts to address The Big Issues in its final 30 minutes.

In the picture, United States senator hopeful David Norris, played by Matt Damon, meets the woman of his dreams (Emily Blunt) on election night before simultaneously losing both her phone number and the race.

Norris accidentally stumbles across an odd conspiracy: a group of men in suits with matching hats decides the destinies of the living – unbeknownst to them, of course - by making adjustments, such as the occasionally spilled cup of coffee, the bus running late, etc.

It turns out that Norris is not supposed to end up with his dream girl, although the film’s villains fail to provide any real reasoning for keeping them apart.

“Bureau” chugs along steadily enough until it introduces the concept of a “chairman,” who has a grand design for humankind, as well as launches into its final set piece, involving a series of rotating doors and locales throughout the five boroughs. It’s a movie full of ideas and concepts that never quite gel.

Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) also struggles with the big questions in Michael Dowse’s comedy, which is set over the course of one night in 1980’s Los Angeles.

The filmmakers struggle with whether they want the movie to be a “Say Anything” (shy, charming male lead, seemingly unattainable, but down to earth girl) or a rowdy sex comedy.

In the film, Matt is pondering what to do after college, working in a Suncoast video at the local mall, when he gets invited to a party by his high school crush. 

Tagging along for the ride are Franklin’s soon-to-be-wed sister (Anna Faris) and party animal best friend, Barry (Dan Fogler), a cocaine-sniffing car salesman who appears to have strayed into the film from a long lost Bret Easton Ellis novel.

It’s 1988, so you know what that means – big hair and Wang Chung on the soundtrack!

The release dates for both “Bureau” and “Tonight” have been moved around several times, which is usually a bad sign. Neither film is a complete bust. However, they both fail to realize their full potential.

The film of the week is easily the most esoteric. Playing solely at Manhattan’s Film Forum, “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” is a strange concoction – part Buddhist parable, part surrealist film, part ghost story and part jungle fantasia.

The movie, which won the Palm d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, is set in a forested section of Thailand, following the story of the film’s titular character as he moves in with his sister-in-law amid a slow decline due to kidney failure.

He is soon visited by two ghosts: his wife, who mysteriously fades in and out, and his son, who appears in the form of a “monkey ghost,” complete with glowing red eyes.

Some viewers may find it maddening that director Apichatpong Weerasethakul provides few answers to the many questions raised by the film’s eerie imagery. But “Uncle Boonmee” is a lush fever dream. You might not be able to fully explain it, but I doubt you’ll forget it.

“The Adjustment Bureau” is playing at Douglaston’s Movie World and AMC Loews Bay Terrace 6, while “Take Me Home Tonight” is playing at College Point Multiplex Cinemas. “Uncle Boonmee” is screening at the Film Forum.