Until Netflix’s The Adam Project, I strongly believed that only Ryan Reynolds could play Ryan Reynolds in a movie. However, Walker Scobell who plays the younger version of Reynolds absolutely pulls off the fast-talking witty repertoire that is Reynolds.
Reynolds plays a pilot who time travels back to 2022 in error meeting his 12-year-old self (Scobell). The mission… save the future and find his wife, played by Zoe Saldana. The banter between the two characters made me chuckle frequently, often making fun of themselves and who they were or who they are becoming.
The movie wastes no time to toss us right into the action in both timelines but also wastes no time bringing the laughs. SHUT UP CHUCK. The core of this movie is the relationship between middle-aged Adam and his younger self. Remarkably they help each other while also making fun of several time travel movies while living those same tropes themselves.
The villain is motivated by greed but is also not your standard villain. Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) doesn’t quite come off as ruthless as I would have expected for this type of film. Mark Ruffalo plays the physicist father of Adam and provides a lot of science whenever he’s on the screen. He’s a fun quirky character that adds to the film, as does Adam’s mother played by Jennifer Garner.
Shawn Levy brings his great eye for action even if the movie misses a few beats. His pairing with Reynolds hits many of the right notes. It’s too bad they were unable to capture lightning twice after the unexpected hit that was Free Guy.
