It’s the Friday before the Super Bowl, which means new movie trailers are dropping. First up, it’s The Adam Project, the Netflix family-ish adventure film that reunites the Free Guy team of producer-star Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, it reunites 13 Going on 30 stars Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo. Why aren’t they leaning into that more? Not only does that movie have its original fans from—yikes—nearly twenty years ago, but it also pops up regularly on social media as The Youths discover it over and over again. But does this trailer for The Adam Project in any way signal that it knows some people care about Jenna Rink and Matt Flamhaff? No! Scandalous!
It's especially scandalous because The Adam Project has a time travel plot that recalls 13 Going on 30, kinda, if you squint, WHICH I AM. Ryan Reynolds plays grown-up Adam, and Walker Scobell plays young Adam, and they meet in a grandfather-defying paradox to, I dunno, save the world? Or the future? Or maybe their dad, in the past? Not entirely clear what the objective is here, except that young and old Adam team up with Zoe Saldana to do…something. Looks great, love Ryan Reynolds doing a family-friendly turn, has strong Spielbergian energy. Shawn Levy is one of the better next-gen “director dudes in baseball caps” trying to ape the magic of Steven Spielberg, one of the original director dudes in baseball caps. The shot of the incinerated trees works.
But again, and I cannot stress this enough, there is not NEARLY enough acknowledgment that this is a 13 Going on 30 reunion, with Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo playing estranged(??) parents. I hope The Adam Project understands the cultural relevance of Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo together in a movie and honors this timeless screen couple as they deserve. Jenna and Matt forever!
Also attached - Ryan and Blake Lively at the opening night of The Music Man on Broadway last night in New York.