Before I get into my actual review, I would like to thank the two people that told me I should watch this movie, both of whom are my bosses. Being a mom is sometimes not an easy gig, and they both heard my frustration and concern that I am, well, not a good mom. They then, separately, recommended I watch The Adam Project, and since it stars Ryan Reynolds, I didn’t really find that a challenge. And it did help, so thank you, Pamela and Rebecca.

On to the movie.

The Adam Project is a science fiction, time travel movie, where the title character, Adam, goes back in time. The film opens with a space battle. Adam, it seems, has stolen his jet, and the people he stole it from want it back. He’s shot in the ensuing dogfight, but he manages to punch a wormhole through space-time and get through it before his ship is blown up.

Next up, we meet the younger Adam. He’s about to get his butt handed to him by a bully, but he cannot help himself and keeps making sarcastic remarks at the bully and his friend. This doesn’t help his situation any, and here we see that younger Adam is a geeky, smart, asthmatic, and not physically inclined twelve-year-old kid. It’s not easy to see the older version in the younger, and that right off is intriguing.

Obviously, older Adam runs into younger Adam at home later on, and it doesn’t take long for the younger to figure out that they are the same person. There is a lot of sniping and poking at each other, which is kind of endearing and funny. It’s kind of how I expect any of Ryan’s children to turn out, to be honest.

Behind all of the delightful banter, time-traveling Adam is dealing with his bullet wound and navigating just how much to explain to his younger self. This is where the science fiction plot comes into play. Adam is trying to rescue someone from a nefarious plot to control the future. And from there, it would get spoilery, so now let’s talk about what I liked and why, as well as some of the science stuff.

First off, the movie is funny in a charming way, as I would expect from a Ryan Reynolds/Shawn Levy movie. This is the same duo that brought us Free Guy, after all. Second, the script hits a lot of great notes, finding emotional moments in what could have just been a popcorn movie, full of great action sequences and no heart. The action sequences, though, are really good. But in the midst of all of that is a story about grief and family and love. It’s lovely.

So why did my two bosses recommend the movie in the midst of my parental breakdown? There is this one really touching scene between older Adam and his mom, played by Jennifer Garner, where he seeks to reassure her about how good a mother she is and that her kid loves her. She doesn’t know who this person is being nice to her over the bar in a pub, but Garner does a great job of letting the fear and wonder and gratitude play over her face. I needed that moment.

As for the science in this movie, there’s actually quite a bit of it. Of course, time travel is the main topic, and I’m not going to get into that too much, although I did like the way they handled the issue of causation and paradoxes. But the part that really hit home was a graduate physics teacher talking in their lecture about how these are the problems their children will solve. And the way the students were reacting about the impossibility of making it even that far. Physics, as I know all too well, is not easy. Also, they touch on the phrase “It’s later than you think”, referring to how there is never enough time to do all the things in your life, so do them sooner rather than later. I liked how that tied nicely into the time travel theme, as well.

So, overall, a bit of science, a lot of action, but, most importantly, a ton of heart makes The Adam Project a delightful movie. It was produced by and is available on Netflix if any of you are still subscribed to that particular service. Please note that we received no compensation for this review.