The Adam Project
The latest Netflix/Ryan Reynolds effort is an exercise in sci-fi action with all the feels.
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I don’t much cry at real life – but boy howdy – will I cry at some movies. One out of every four films I watch seems to result in tears. Hell, I’ll cry at Budweiser commercials – can you believe that horse and dog were reunited?!!! “The Adam Project” (streaming on Netflix beginning Friday, March 11) left me a blubbering mess to the point where my wife exclaimed, “Get it together, Toombs!”
Ryan Reynolds stars as Adam Reed, he’s a fighter pilot (way to retcon that shitty “Green Lantern” movie!) in 2050 where time travel is possible. He attempts to travel back to 2018 in order to save his wife Laura (Zoe Saldaña) from the clutches of corrupt corporate czar Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) and her minions.
Adam instead winds up in 2022 with a bullet in his gut where he encounters his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell). Young Adam (the kid – not the early aughts non-“Star Wars” movie where Ewan McGregor also whips out his lightsaber) writes checks with his mouth that his ass can’t cash. The youngster is hurting – his Dad Louis (Mark Ruffalo) died in a car accident the year prior – and the boy lashes out at his Mom Ellie (Jennifer Garner) in order to cope.
Adams young and middle-aged team for another time jump to 2018 where they’ll engage with Louis (a colleague of Sorian’s) in order to put a stop to her dastardly deeds.
“The Adam Project” is the second collaboration between Reynolds and director Shawn Levy in as many years after “Free Guy.” I loved “Free Guy.” I love “The Adam Project.” At this point I hope these guys make 10 more movies together. The film is produced by Skydance Media – who has made a habit out of making sci-fi action flicks brimming with heart in the past few years, i.e. “The Old Guard” and “The Tomorrow War.” “The Adam Project” may very well be their most heartfelt project to date. It feels like a 1980s Amblin movie meets “Star Wars” (Reynolds’ Adam has a lightsaber bo staff doohickey, there’s a speeder bike chase sequence in a forest) meets “13 Going on 30” (Garner and Ruffalo reunion FTW!) meets “Field of Dreams” (catches are had before the picture’s conclusion).
The screenplay by Jonathan Tropper (he previously collaborated with Levy on “This Is Where I Leave You”) working alongside T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin (the latter two are married and write for Netflix’s “Big Mouth”) has a surprising amount of emotional heft. When Reynolds’ Adam talks about the shame felt for how he treated his mother, I flashed back to the time where as a middle schooler I flipped my Mom off and said, “Fuck you, bitch,” before she linebacker-tackled and slapped the everliving shit outta me in front of one of my friends who laughed his ass off during the beatdown. (For the record, I never spoke to her like that again.) When the Adams talk about feeling like second fiddle to their Dad’s work despite being loved, I could certainly relate. (Thankfully, my Dad wasn’t around for the “F you” incident – otherwise I likely would’ve been conked in the back of the head with a 9-iron and buried in the backyard.) Much like Young Adam I had a mouth on me (hence the “F you” incident) and was a nerdy kid. Unlike Young Adam I was big enough to fight my own fights.
Despite really digging “The Adam Project,” the movie ain’t perfect. Scobell’s voice annoyed me at first (the kid ultimately proves to be a good little actor and is believable as a young Reynolds). The film sometimes feels like a vanity project for Reynolds when Scobell talks about how ripped he is or when Ruffalo says, “Just look at this guy,” in awe. Saldaña’s character sorta receives the short shrift. Some of the de-aging CG on Keener’s Sorian looks wonky. The Adams often touch each other without morphing into an amorphous blob like Ron Silver did in “Timecop.”
“The Adam Project” is a classic four-quadrant movie. I really dug it and think a lot of you will too. Come for Reynolds (who’s reliably smarmily charming while mining surprising emotional depth). Stay for Scobell (Man, can this tyke can deliver a zinger!). I recommend watching it with those you love and having Kleenex on hand.