The Adam Project's CGI has left Netflix users baffled

Whether you loved or hated The Adam Project, there seems to be one specific factor in the film that everyone can agree on: the strange use of CGI, specifically in a scene involving Oscar nominee Catherine Keener.

The movie stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular Adam, a fighter pilot from a dystopian 2050 who attempts to travels back in time to the year 2018, but crash lands in 2022 and meets his 12-year-old self. Catherine Keener plays Maya Sorian, the villainous leader of the dystopian world who attempts to capture Adam and bring him back to 2050.

Halfway through the film, Maya goes back in time to visit her younger self. Rather than use makeup or hairstyling to create a young Keener, the film uses CGI to project a flat, one-dimensional 'deep fake' onto Keener's face. Many took umbrage with this choice, with more viewers tweeting about the deep fake than about Keener's actual performance.

"The Adam Project is on Netflix and it’s a pretty great movie," one Twitter user said. "It also has one of the worst de-aging CG effects I’ve ever seen."

"If, somehow, the de-aged CGI Catherine Keener from The Adam Project could be captured holding the baby from American Sniper, time might stop and the universe would fold in on itself and collapse," another joked.

One user said he "didn't hate" the film, but that he'd "rather forgive a slightly different looking actress than a wonky CGI."

New York Times film critic Natalia Winkelman shared her review, calling it "a movie that loves it some Ryan Reynolds banter and de-ages Catherine Keener into a constipated Sim." Others seemed to echo this opinion.

Writer James Marsh compared the CGI to that of The Irishman, in which a young Robert De Niro is depicted onscreen, saying The Adam Project "confirms" that Netflix has made little effort to improve its VFX. "For a film about future tech," he added. "Its own effects work is horrendous."

One user commented on the differences between aging in films, and how typically much more effort is put into the appearance of a female character: "The Adam Project isn’t at all noteworthy except that the CGI they did for the younger version of Catherine Keener feels straight-up insulting. They did all that to try to make a beautiful woman look barely younger and all Ryan Reynolds did was shave his beard?"

"Does The Adam Project not think I don't know what Catherine Keener looked like 30 years ago?" someone asked. "Did they not consult, like, Being John Malkovich before applying the de-aging CGI?"

Another went so far as to call the de-aging of Keener's character a "ghoulish deep fake nightmare." 

The Adam Project is currently streaming on Netflix. For more, check out our breakdown of how time travel works in The Adam Project.