Fly Me to the Moon review

FLY ME TO THE MOON: 

A DECENT MOON SCANDAL WITH A LOT OF CHARM! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES AND APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS

Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson in Fly Me to the Moon

 

            Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marriage Story) and Channing Tatum (21 and 22 Jump Street, Magic Mike trilogy, The Lost City) begin the Argo of the Moon Landing in Fly Me to the Moon, the new film from Greg Berlanti (The Broken Hearts Club, Life as We Know It, Love, Simon). The film was originally planned for an Apple TV+ streaming release, but due to strong test screenings it was released in theaters with I’m assuming an Apple TV+ premiere coming at a later date.

            The film looked interesting judging by the trailer, a fictionalized movie where a group of people shoot a back-up fake moon landing that’s heavily inspired by the moon landing conspiracies that were going around at the time. 

            Despite the mixed critical reactions after its release, I was still interested in checking it out and…I thought this movie was okay. Sure, it could have been much better given its potential but I wasn’t disappointed in what I was watching. 

            The film is set during the 1960s Space Race between the United States and Soviet Union and follows NASA director in charge of the Apollo 11 launch Cole Davis (Tatum) and marketing specialist Kelly Jones (Johansson) who is brought in to help with NASA’s public image. Sparks fly from all directions as a relationship begins to form between Cole and Kelly and when the White House deems the mission too important to fail, there is only one logical solution…stage a fake moon landing just in case. 

            The film also stars Jim Rash (Sky High, Community, Bros) as Lance Vespertine, Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond, Ice Age franchise, The Irishman) as Henry Smalls, and Woody Harrelson (Zombieland 1 and 2, The Hunger Games franchise, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) as Moe Berkus. 

            Overall, Fly Me to the Moon doesn’t quite live up to the potential of its premise, but as a lighthearted romantic comedy revolving around it, the movie does its job fine enough. What helps is that Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum are incredibly charming in the film and have strong romantic chemistry even if the film runs on a lot of clichés and predictable tropes, sometimes just two talented leads who work wonderfully together is all you need. 

            I even enjoyed some of the side characters, Jim Rash as this pretentious and egotistical director tasked with directing the fake moon landing gets some good laughs and Woody Harrelson plays the kind of character you’d expect from him, but it works. Also, one of the best movie cats I’ve seen in a while. 

            Like I said, the movie relies on a lot of genre clichés and goes where you’d expect a film like this would go. But this is a movie that isn’t trying to be a cinematic game-changer or offer a new perspective on the moon landing, it’s simple date movie fluff where the charming leads outshine its familiar storytelling and for one of those kinds of films, it’s done relatively well. 

            I do however think the film’s tone is very inconsistent and that can be a little distracting for those going in not realizing it’s a romantic comedy. Going in, I thought it was going to be a drama about filming a fake moon landing that just has elements of romance and comedy and what I got was a romantic comedy that’s based around a fake moon landing. 

            Not saying that’s a bad thing, but the tonal shifts can be jarring at times like having a bunch of drawn-out comedic bits during the production of the fake landing or suddenly cutting to Tatum and Johansson being romantic after something tense or dramatic happens. It isn’t impossible to effectively blend romance with comedy, drama, or action like with The Fall Guy which was essentially a romantic comedy that was also an action movie, but that movie had a stronger balance between the different genres so it was a more engaging film in the end. 

            I would have preferred a full-on drama or comedy-drama about a fictionalized crew filming a fake moon landing over a romantic comedy that just happened to be about that but Fly Me to the Moon is a perfectly fine date movie that doesn’t demand much from the audience and should be an enjoyable enough romp while in the moment. The cast is charming, the comedy gets some good laughs, and the overall premise is still fascinating regardless of its genre so I’d say it might be worth a viewing if you’re curious or just looking for a light and fluffy time-waster that isn’t insulting to your intelligence.