The Adam Project is one of the most predictable early year releases. It is a film with the budget, cast, and concept to be potentially great. But in almost every aspect, this film reaches for that potential and falls short. The Adam Project follows Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds), a time traveling pilot in his 30s who comes from the future and gets stranded in 2022. Shortly after, he meets his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell).

This buddy cop-reminiscent sci-fi action flick ticks all the boxes of a formulaic Netflix release, but it does have some spurts of creativity. The comedy can be very existential and dark at times while still maintaining the bright and unrealistic tone of the film. The science jargon borders on the line of “complicated mess” but never fully crosses it. The main cast of characters are deep and have layered personalities, with the exception of Zoe Saldaña’s character (whose personality can be summed up in one word: “girlfriend”) and Catherine Keener’s character (whose personality is simply “evil”).

Ryan Reynolds does what he does best and gives us a charming and lovable performance. Nonetheless, he still leaves room for dark vulnerability and genuine emotion. Mark Ruffalo was my favorite supporting role in this film. In the short amount of time he is in the film, he made me want to have him as my dad. Walker Schobell has to be the clear standout of the main cast. He delivers such a hilarious and real performance that I almost thought he was a de-aged Ryan Reynolds. Jennifer Garner is not in the film as much as one would hope, but with the time she has, she gives a meaningful and heartwarming performance. To round up the rest of the cast, Zoe Saldaña and Catherine Keener work well with what little they were given. Keener also does a good job at playing her de-aged self.

The look of the film is nice as well. The cinematography has some care and composure to it. The choreography is well-done, and for the most part, the fight scenes are filmed wonderfully. The visual effects are fine for the most part, although there is the occasional messy explosion and the absolutely horrifying de-aging of Catherine Keener.

However, I do have other legitimate issues with this film. For one, the music comes off as derivative and patronizing at times. I imagine some of the song titles are “Cry During This Scene” and “Oh, Action I Guess.” The jokes of the film also get old after some time. The joke where “old me talks about how young me did this” is reused to an annoying extent. After the 4th or 5th time this same joke came up, I could not hold back an eye-roll.

All in all, The Adam Project is nothing new. It is a nice looking sci-fi action comedy that has fun action and good (albeit repetitive) jokes, with a charming cast that elevates the enjoyability of the film. However, it’s simply too generic to be anything more than slightly above average.

5.5/10