I adore Philip K Dick stories, so I was thrilled to see another movie was coming out based on a story he had written. This one was "The Adjustment Bureau" based on "Adjustment Team". I had high hopes.
The storyline is intriguing. Angels, using iPad style devices, are tracking humanity and keeping them "adjusted" on their proper paths. If someone veers from the path that is set for them, they are nudged back on path. Little changes don't matter, but if someone does a large change, they are fixed.
Matt Damon is a man running for New York Senate. He's on a great track for success. However, he gets distracted by an offbeat, funny dancer - played by Emily Blunt. The Adjustment Bureau is Not Happy. They need to get him back on track.
SPOILER ALERT
Normally I like Philip K Dick stories because of the twists and turns in them - but this one lays out almost predictably as a romantic comedy. Guy meets girl. Guy loses girl. Guy meets girl again. Hurdles appear. Guy and girl surmount them and live happily ever after.
Even worse, though, it seems really forced. They meet once and kiss, maybe 10 minutes together total. Three years later they meet again on a bus for maybe 10 minutes and separate. Then I think a year or so later they meet, have a quick lunch, and sleep together. And then he abandons her.
So she also has this great guy, Adrian, who adores her. He stands by her. He takes her back after she breaks their engagement. After all of this, David pops back into her life and POOF she runs off with him again and abandons her loyal guy. All because she has a "feeling" that they were meant to be together.
That disturbs me a lot. With all the studies about how those feelings often ride on things like eye dilation and time-of-the-month hormones and so on, do we really want to be telling people to abandon loyal, trusting boyfriends because they have an urge to kiss a guy they've never seen before?
Plus, it doesn't feel like a Philip K Dick story at all. There are no real twists. Things don't always make sense. Why would an angel break all the rules to help them? Why do plans just suddenly 'change'? The ending message felt extremely forced.
So I was disappointed.
Did anyone else see this? Any different views on this?
