“Time Flies” indeed, as the film’s tagline says, except – ironically – when you’re watching it.

Leave your brain behind as you enter the wormhole and follow the time-traveling adventures of Ryan Reynolds playing Ryan Reynolds with a different name.

This movie feels like the result of someone having a cool story idea and then handing it over to a jaded big-Hollywood exec, who promptly proceeds to stretch and squish the idea into a stereotypical Hollywood action blockbuster mould.

The “big moments” are all predictable. A lot of the plot itself has plot armour; most things don’t make sense if you think about them for approximately a split-second. Mark Ruffalo’s acting disappoints, and the chemistry between Adam (Reynolds) and Laura (Saldaña) feels forced.

On the other hand, Walker Scobell as little Adam delivers a great performance, and the film touches upon some of the tougher parts of parental relationships with surprising tenderness, especially of the one Adam has with his mother.

In the end this turns out to be a boring, generic action film that is saved from being completely forgettable by the virtue of the originality of its core plot idea.