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The term "Spielbergian" will get thrown around a lot when you read about Netflix's "The Adam Project," and it's an easy enough way to describe the new sci-fi movie. Director Shawn Levy, who last gave us the obnoxious but successful "Free Guy," certainly isn't shy about the movie's influences, but "The Adam Project" doesn't coast on trying to capture 80s nostalgia in a modern day film. Instead, starts out that way but becomes its own animal - which is ultimately to the film's detriment.

Ryan Reynolds stars as Adam, a time-traveling pilot in the year 2055 who is trying to get back to 2018 to find his wife Laura (Zoe Saldana). His mission is thwarted thanks to Maya (Catherine Keener), and he overshoots his destination and winds up in 2022. Injured and needing to find a place to heal before attempting to finish his mission, Adam seeksrefuge at his childhood home, where he encounters the younger version of himself (played by Walker Scobell).

Young Adam lives with his mother Ellie (Jennifer Garner), who is having a hard time connecting with her son a year after his father's death. Big Adam and Young Adam don't get along at first, but Big Adam decides to take his younger self on a trip through time. Their goal is to find their late father Louis (Mark Ruffalo) and team up to alter the invention of time travel in order to save the world from Maya's more nefarious agenda.

Reynolds previously worked with Levy on "Free Guy," and this outing continues the string of post-"Deadpool" roles that capitalize on the actor's deadpan smarminess. There's a bit of a variation to his performance here, because Big Adam carries the weight of his past while trying to adjust his younger self's future. Reynolds is funny and can be convincing when he ventures out of his comfort zone ("Buried" and "The Voices" remain prime examples of what Reynolds can do as an actor). However, he continues to operate in familiar territory, which has become exhausting after the one-two punch of "The Hitman's Bodyguard's Wife" and "Free Guy." If anything, his performance works best when paired with Scobell, and their banter proves to be entertaining.

There's fun to be had with "The Adam Project" and its spectacle is entertaining (minus some terribly distracting deaging technology), but the story trips over itself in the final act to a distracting degree. The movie's rules contort around the plot and when the tension and drama start to mount it's hard to be fully engaged while also trying to understand the characters' goals and how their actions make sense in the movie's world. "The Adam Project" has a pure heart, but its execution is a bit of a mess.