This sitting around talking wouldn't be such a problem if the movie wasn't trying so hard to be an action-suspense flick. The stakes of the story might have needed to seem high for us to get into the movie, but they just become totally laughable and trivial by the end. The movie places Matt Damon as an up and coming young politician with a rough but lovable past who falls in love with a dancer (Emily Blunt) whom he is not supposed to be with because the titular bureaucrats of fate say it isn't in the plan they have, which would make him president and her the best modern dancer ever. This then leads to Damon alternating between running away from the bureau officers and having stilted conversations about free will with them. This combination of running and talking eventually leads to an unsurprising finish that doesn't quite feel earned or natural.

It also contributes to making the potentially coolest characters of the film, the Adjustment Bureau's workers, into The Matrix-like agents who might be the most ineffectual antagonistic forces ever. Not only do they lose their powers because of water, they also resort to playing mind-games. The one of them who is supposedly some kind of bad ass, with the nickname "The Hammer," can't even muster up the effort to run as Damon and Blunt are dashing around the Bureau's headquarters. If the protagonists are going to care so much, the bad guys should at least attempt to do the same.

Beyond the movie's faults as a genre piece, the movie is obviously directed by a novice George Nolfi, best known for writing Ocean's Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum. The whole thing is visually marred by film school level mistakes like unnecessarily long establishing shots of random industrial areas we only see once, messy cuts during action, and dull static close-ups during the already painfully stilted conversations between characters. He also over-directed all of the actors, even Damon, into weird movements and reactions that probably only look good through a camera's viewfinder. The only person who looks half comfortable is John Slattery, but he always looks good in a grey flannel three-piece suit.

All of Nolfi's choices end up not only producing a movie that is difficult to watch, but one that puts the audience into a similar spot as Damon's character. We end up seeing behind the curtain getting a full view of the way in which the movie's world is planned. Only instead of being the elegant design of some great Chairman, we only see a plot that we all have the free will to walk away from.

Check out the five best movies based on Philip K. Dick stories, and the five more that should be adapted.

What are people saying about your favorite shows and stars right now? Find out with Talk Without Pity, the social media site for real TV fans. See Tweets and Facebook comments in real time and add your own -- all without leaving TWoP. Join the conversation now!