Sometimes, you jump into a movie and think you know what you’re getting yourself into, and then it catches you completely unawares—and that, for me, is The Adam Project.
When you think of Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds, you probably think fun action and an incredible storyline to keep you coming back. The two had previously worked on Free Guy together, and while there were moments when I was emotionally attached to that movie’s characters and crying (which, granted, isn’t rare for me), it was more of a fun adventure set in the world of gaming than anything else.
The Adam Project, then, felt like a punch to the gut. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds as Adam Reed, a time traveler who is going back to search for his wife, Laura (Zoe Saldaña), when he crash lands at his childhood home in 2022. Adam then meets his younger self (played by Walker Scobell), and the older version of Adam helps his younger self in coping with the death of their father while trying to figure out how to get the older version home.
It’s funny because of Reynolds’ wit. It’s emotional because of Mark Ruffalo’s ability to make us cry. And it’s powerful because both Adam’s mother Ellie (played by Jennifer Garner) and Laura are trying to do what is best for someone else, and neither are perfect. Every character is flawed but is also trying to do bette with their lives and for each other, and it is what makes the film so fascinating to watch.
This movie also has a perfect Face/Off joke in it that made my entire year, so I will be singing its praise for months to come.
Card-holding members of the Dead Dad Club
If you have a sick father, a strained relationship with your dad, or your dad is dead: Be warned. I went into my screening of this movie and completely forgot about the “Mark Ruffalo as Ryan Reynolds’ dad” of it all. I thought, “Huh, I love Shawn Levy! Okay!” and didn’t think, and found myself sobbing in the Metrograph in a theater that also had the entire cast. So … I guess I cried with Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo?
Prior to the death of my dad, I still think that this movie would have hit an emotional chord with me, but boy oh boy does it sting in a cathartic way when you’re a member of the “Dead Dad Club.” I know for me personally, it hit for a number of reasons, one being that my dad loved Levy’s work and was the number-one fan of the 2011 movie Real Steel that Levy did with Hugh Jackman. And, in The Adam Project, Adam’s father’s favorite song is “Let My Love Open the Door” by The Who (my dad’s favorite band).
So yes, this review is incredibly personal, but that’s what the movie feels like. I cannot speak for others, but there’s something about The Adam Project that rings incredibly personal and close to the heart while still being universal for so many.
This movie, for all its worth, is a letter to those who’ve lost that relationship and are trying to find some way of coping. Not everyone has a great relationship with their father. I know that I was lucky, and the movie gives us a disjointed relationship between Adam and Louis (Ruffalo). We get to see their struggle, especially when older Adam has to talk about his father or work with him, but it’s still an understanding of that loss and how we have to try to cope and move on from it.
Grief is a weird game
No one knows what grief will do to them, where it will hit, or how you’ll cope with it. You can be fine one minute and then sobbing over a napkin the next, and what I loved about The Adam Project is that we’re seeing multiple lenses on it. We see older Adam’s struggle to cope with the loss at a young age, and younger Adam fresh in his memories and missing his father. We see Ellie trying to be there for her son and move on with her life while still missing her husband, and we see Laura trying to understand her husband’s grief and how to be there as a support system. All of it gives us the notion that grief isn’t a solitary experience.
It’s an action adventure with a heart. And as cheesy as that may sound, the movie doesn’t feel cheesy. It’s wholesome and fun but definitely will make you cry—if not for the dad stuff, then for the 13 Going on 30 reunion of Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner.
See Ryan Reynolds films on Disney+, Apple TV+, Prime Video
The Adam Project is an emotional rollercoaster that catches you in the warmest baseball glove by the end.
(image: Doana Gregory/Netflix)
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