Movie Review News
Scarlett and Channing top the bill in charming Fly Me to the Moon
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in Fly Me to the Moon
Any avid filmgoer knows that films that purport to be “based on a true story” should be taken with large grains of salt, as filmmakers often take many dramatic liberties in order to fit their vision. But there are other films that insert fictional characters into major real-life events, like Titanic, to use that history as the backdrop for a completely different kind of story.
That latter approach is what’s on display in Fly Me to the Moon, which is set around the events leading up to the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. However, save for the three Apollo 11 astronauts, nobody portrayed in the film is real. Instead, it centers around straight-laced NASA Flight Director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), whose rigid preparations are upended when a lackey for President Nixon, Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), hires a brash and highly effective PR person, Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), to sell the space mission to a skeptical public and Congress.
Jones pulls out all the stops to make the billions NASA is spending more appealing, including hiring actors to use as stand-ins for administrators in interviews, having the astronauts advertise everything from high-end watches to Tang, and sweet-talking reluctant U.S. senators (including one played by Johansson’s real-life husband, Colin Jost). But a demand by Berkus that Jones arrange for the filming of a fake moon landing as a contingency in case of failure for the real one may be a step too far for even Jones.
Directed by Greg Berlanti and written by Rose Gilroy, the film has its fair share of charms, but those start to wear off as the film goes along. Jones and her assistant, Ruby (Anna Garcia), make for a fun pair as they run roughshod over a variety of people to get what they want. Likewise, Davis and his crew, which includes Henry Smalls (Ray Romano), are an amiable bunch whose baffled reactions to Jones’ work are entertaining in a refreshingly non-sexist way.
But the fictional story continually bumps up against the real history it’s depicting. The idea of the first moon landing being faked has been a conspiracy theory virtually from the time it happened, so that part of the film works the best, especially since it features the prima donna director Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash). But many of the other segments feel off, especially when the film returns multiple times to the anguish of Davis – again, a fictional character – over the deaths of the real Apollo 1 astronauts in a fire.
Berlanti and his team try to keep things light, and the goofiness of the core NASA characters we’re shown – which includes the very young Stu Bryce (Donald Elise Watkins) and Don Harper (Noah Robbins) – along with the semi-romance that develops between Jones and Davis helps them achieve mild success in that department. But the far-fetched nature of some of the plot points, including a crucial last-minute twist, too often counteract those parts.
The winning personalities of both Johansson and Tatum make their performances good ones overall, even if they both seem slightly miscast. Harrelson always makes for a good slimeball, so he works well in his role. The supporting cast is what truly keeps the film afloat, though, as Romano, Garcia, Rash, Watkins, Robbins, and more come in and out of the story seamlessly.
Fly Me to the Moon is a dramedy that should not be confused in any way, shape, or form with actual history. When it sticks to wholly invented scenes, it makes for an enjoyable watch, but when it starts to blur the lines between real events and fiction, the film loses the thread.
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Fly Me to the Moon opens in theaters on July 12. It will debut on Apple TV+ at a later date.
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