Cert: 12A| ★★★✩✩

Ryan Reynolds heads a stellar cast in this flawed, but undeniably touching sci-fi adventure from Jewish Canadian director Shawn Levy (Date Night, Free Guy). Produced by Reynolds, The Adam Project also stars Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldaña, Mark Ruffalo and newcomer Walker Scobell. An earlier version of the film had Tom Cruise attached to the production, but after languishing in development hell for several years, The Adam Project was acquired by Netflix and began shooting last year during the pandemic.
After accidentally crash-landing in 2022 from 2050, time-travelling fighter pilot Adam Reed (Reynolds) teams up with his precautious and nerdy 12-year-old self (Scobell) to save the future from a new danger. As adult Adam attempts to solve the mystery of the disappearance of his wife Laura (Saldaña), young Adam is struggling to find common ground with his mother Ellie (Garner) who is still mourning the death of his dad Louis (Ruffalo).
Free Guy was last summer’s surprise critical and box office hit for Reynolds and Levy, but this latest collaboration sadly lacks its frivolous joie de vivre and narrative hook. Granted, Levy and writers Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin have managed to inject a genuinely touching subplot about familial dynamics and parental love, but there is a lot here that simply doesn’t work. The main problem being that the story is simply not that interesting.
Reynolds falls back on what he knows best as he offers adult Adam as a wisecracking, self-deprecating reluctant hero with some unfinished business in the past, while Scobell puts in a genuinely thrilling turn as the younger self. Elsewhere, Ruffalo delivers a touching and understated turn as Louis, while Garner does a great job as Adam’s long-suffering mother.
While not adding anything new to the genre, The Adam Project still manages to showcase some great performances from all involved, even if in the end they are let down by a decidedly unimaginative premise and some rather lacklustre action set pieces.