Netflix recently released a trailer for its upcoming 2022 slate of titles, among which contained a teaser for The Adam Project. Now, there is another teaser trailer for fans to pour over. The film is about a young boy who meets his older self, and together they deal with the death of their father while they save the world. Among the cast is Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo, who play the titular character's parents. Fans are excited to see these two reunited since they starred opposite each other in the iconic 2004 romantic comedy 13 Going on 30.
Garner played the grownup version of Jenna Rink, a 13-year-old girl who wakes up in the body of her 30-year-old self after making a wish on her birthday. Ruffalo played the grownup version of Jenna's best friend and love interest Matt Flamhaff. After her 13th birthday, Jenna and Matt drifted apart and only reunited after Jenna woke up as a 30-year-old, not knowing about their complicated history.
As they reconnect, Matt and Jenna develop romantic feelings for each other, but it's too late, and Matt goes on to marry someone else. But all is not lost. Thanks to the same magic wishing dust that sent Jenna to her future, she gets sent back to her party. By taking the lessons she learned, she's able to cut out the toxic, popular girls from her life and fix the past with Matt. Jenna and Matt end up living happily ever after.
In some ways, The Adam Project feels not only like a reunion for Garner and Ruffalo but also a kind of a sequel to 13 Going on 30 thanks to the shared time travel plot points. Adam and his older self travel through time and reunite with the father who died when they were young to hopefully make peace with the experience and get some closure from that loss. Jenna and Matt are able to repair their relationship and end up together, preventing a tragic fallout thanks to the lessons Jenna learned while time traveling. It's almost like Adam's mom Ellie taught her son a thing or two.
While The Adam Project isn't technically a sequel to the rom-com 13 Going on 30, that doesn't make the reunion between stars Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo any less exciting. Nor does it stop the fan comparisons between the two films. It's fun to put films together that share themes or stars, even if they aren't a canonical series. Using time travel to strengthen bonds and learn valuable lessons can be explored through action-adventure films and rom-coms with equally satisfying results.
To see the reunion for yourself, The Adam Projects hits Netflix on March 11.