Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | Film | February 24, 2026
I am not a huge fan of the post-Deadpool 2 Ryan Reynolds, who has become less of an actor and much more of a brand. But despite my disinterest in the Mint Mobile/Aviation Gin/Wrexham-owning iteration, I’m not going to retroactively distance myself from my first Pajiba man crush.
Longtime readers know that my Reynolds obsession dates back to his Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place days, that I rooted for him through his Van Wilder and Waiting … eras, that my second-favorite Ryan Reynolds role is Blade Trinity, and that I’ve always thought of him as Jason Lee in a better package. In fact, if you Google me, the image that inexplicably comes up is of me wearing a Ryan Reynolds shirt that the staff bought me as a gag gift many years ago.
I always knew he was destined for the A-list, and our friend Pete Chiarelli finally put him there in 2009 with The Proposal, only for Reynolds to fritter it away with a series of duds (The Green Lantern, R.I.P.D., Change-Up, Self-Less) that nearly tanked his career until Deadpool not only salvaged it but turned him into the brand he is today, which is to say a sort of human algorithm frequently powered by Shawn Levy.
But there is one Ryan Reynolds role that nothing Ryan Reynolds does — The Adam Project, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard — can ever sour, no matter how many Mint Mobile commercials the man makes. I will always remember it fondly, even though he’s almost as douchy in the role as he was in Van Wilder. It may also be the only Reynolds performance I can easily recall that doesn’t feature Ryan Reynolds being Ryan Reynolds: smarmy, sarcastic, movie-star Chandler Bing.
I refer, of course, to Adventureland, where he played the minor role (the “and” in the credits) of Mike Connell in the 1987-set film. I recently rewatched it, and not only does the movie hold up (especially Martin Starr’s turn as Joel), but Reynolds is every bit as good as I remember.
The film stars Jesse Eisenberg in the sort of semi-pretentious, literature-quoting emo character that was popular back in the aughts. After his father is demoted, Eisenberg’s James Brennan is forced to work in a rundown ’80s amusement park (operated hilariously by a couple played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig) so he can afford grad school tuition at Columbia. At the park, he meets and falls in love with Em, played by Kristen Stewart.
I should also mention that the timing of Adventureland was wild. It was Greg Mottola’s follow-up to Superbad; Jesse Eisenberg hadn’t yet broken big with Zombieland or The Social Network; it was the movie before Reynolds jumped to the A-list with The Proposal; and it landed between Stewart’s first Twilight movie and the second.
Anyway, Em falls for Brennan, too, only there’s a problem: She’s been having an affair with Mike, the married mechanic at the amusement park, who is both effortlessly cool and gives off the vibes of a guy who probably peaked in high school. He’s the kind of dude who’s been sleeping with amusement park employees every summer from his mom’s basement while his wife is at home. He’s a douche, but likable enough that we understand why Stewart’s character is drawn to him. He’s more mature, a little mysterious, a bit of a loner, and a musician who will probably spend the rest of his life promising that his big break is right around the corner.
And Reynolds plays him perfectly. He’s a little shady but doesn’t pretend otherwise, and he forges a friendship with Brennan even as he quietly tries to steer him away from Em. He’s a townie. And as Mike Connell, Reynolds never once makes a wisecrack. He never overemphasizes a syllable for comedic effect. He isn’t self-deprecating, and his facade is just cool enough that it doesn’t burst until we overhear him call Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” “Shed of Light of Love,” exposing him as the loser he’s always been.
It’s so good that I almost wish Reynolds had never hit that top tier of stardom and was still grinding it out in character roles in mid-budget movies. He can act. He just doesn’t have to anymore. And that’s a shame, because there’s a universe where Ryan Reynolds is a Chris Messina type who still has to prove himself in every role because every role could be his last. Reynolds has taken some time off since Deadpool vs. Wolverine, but he has 11 projects on the horizon and, sadly, not a single one suggests he’ll have to return to “acting” anytime soon.
