July 15, 2024 · Watch the official trailer
What if the supposed faking of the Moon landing was also a romantic comedy?
It’s the strange, but real premise to the latest dramedy from director Greg Berlanti starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in a vintage, historically somewhat accurate tale about marketing NASA to the American public as the world preps for the Apollo 11 mission.
What actually appears on screen, however, is a largely forgettable slog that strings together casual laughs with mostly unmemorable moments and the overall breezy quality to the film gives it a hollow, superficial feeling.
“Fly Me To The Moon” stars Johansson as one of America’s top marketing specialists coerced by a shady government employee to revamp the public image of the NASA space program amid the backdrop of the Vietnam War and her frequent interactions and conflicts with the program’s flight director prove fertile ground for classic 90s rom-com fodder.
For a movie like this to work, its headliners need to absolutely shine, and Johansson delivers a vintage charm and wit that has somewhat of a “Mad Men” style to it without being too brash and over-the-top. Her performance over time develops a lot of heart for a character that would normally be played superficially, and Johansson carries much of the movie on her shoulder admirably even when the screenplay around her limits enjoyment to a pedestrian quality.
Conversely, Tatum feels significantly out of place in large segments of “Fly Me To The Moon,” mostly because his character Cole must be played more rigid, almost stoic in a way that limits Tatum’s innate bright charm to shine through. The chemistry with Johansson is questionable at best as it’s hard to see such a rebellious actor play things so by the book and come off as believable as intended.
“Fly Me To The Moon” works better with a convincing straight man who sternly scowls his brow and shakes his finger at the hijinks around him. The film doesn’t work quite as well as Berlanti hopes, when clearly Tatum should be one of the characters causing the chaos rather than being annoyed by it.
Save for Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson as a shadowy government official forcing Kelly and Cole to work together, most of the supporting cast fades into the background of “Fly Me To The Moon” throughout.
However, the film’s best character and the biggest exception to this is an ever vibrant, slightly extra Jim Rash as a film director roped into the situation by Kelly and the moderately bombastic approach Rash takes to the character creates some of the most funny, memorable moments in the least effective storyline in the entire film.
While the production design is solid and in keeping with the late 60s-early 70s era it aspires to, there’s nothing spectacular about the ways in which the film is made and its cinematography is largely unobtrusive, except for certain moments as rockets are launched into space where it’s unclear whether these scenes are CGI reproductions or actual newsreels from the time.
A film clearly meant for an older audience or for those seeking something to stream at home, there isn’t a particularly necessary reason why viewers would need to rush out to theaters to catch “Fly Me To The Moon” but Berlanti’s film has enough light-hearted humor and mild charm that it might be worth a breezy watch on a Tuesday evening at home months from now.
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