A One Mann’s Movies review of “Fly Me To The Moon” (2024).
Apollo was an astonishing program. Given the clunky technology of the day, I still find it utterly awe-inspiring that NASA was able to get the Saturn V bucket of bolts into the air, let alone accomplish the astounding feat of landing two men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, onto the moon. The Apollo 11 mission is the backdrop to this flight of fancy called “Fly Me To The Moon”: a rom-com starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum that’s short on the ‘rom’ and sparing on the ‘com’, but full of nostalgia for me.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is a top-flight marketing professional hired by Woody Harrelson’s shadowy government agent, Moe Berkus, to “sell the moon” to both an apathetic US population and, particularly, a penny-pinching senate. The Apollo 11 flight controller is Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) and, despite the mutual attraction between the pair, Kelly’s dubious marketing strategies put the pair in direct contention.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Infrequent strong language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Christian Clemenson, Jim Rash.
Directed by: Greg Berlanti.
Written by: Rose Gilroy. (Based on a story by Keenan Flynn & Bill Kirstein.)
Twitter Handle: #FlyMeToTheMoon.
Running Time: 2h 12m.
“Fly Me To The Moon” Summary:
Positives:
- Terrific, well-edited, opening titles gives a burst of nostalgia for the 60’s. This is maintained through great production design.
- Nice performances from Scarlett Johansson and Ray Romano.
- A pleasant enough, undemanding, little story.
Negatives:
- Overlong and with pacing problems and a script that tries to cram too much in and which is borderline clunky in places.
- Channing Tatum has the romantic chemistry of moondust, however hard Johansson tries to work at it.
- Suggesting that a fake moon landing was filmed just adds rocket fuel to ridiculous moon-deniers!
Review of “Fly Me To The Moon”:
If you can remember the 60’s you weren’t there… except I do and I was
I was born in 1961 which is the year that JFK made his now famous speech about putting a man on the moon before the end of the century (which features in the opening titles). As I talked about in my intro to my review of Damien Chazelle’s “First Man” – a far superior Apollo film in all respects – the space race played a key role in firing my interest in space and probably science in general. “Fly Me to the Moon” made me similarly “soggy with nostalgia” (as Tom Lehrer so well put it) as the well-edited opening titles played, bringing any post-baby-boomers up to speed with the momentous events of the time. The sequence made me think that the film was better than it ultimately turned out to be.
However, I’ll give the film’s technical teams – production design, wardrobe, hair and make-up – credit for faithfully creating the look and feel of the late 60’s. It’s also great that NASA clearly collaborated in the making of the film, allowing footage filmed on location in Cape Canaveral and giving a real feeling of authenticity to the picture. Having been lucky enough to go there on a few occasions (and having seen three launches live), you can’t really fake the sheer scale and grandeur of the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Nice story, shame about the script
The film is a pleasant enough little diversion, with a story that is almost 100% fiction (despite what Harrelson says during the opening monologue). However, I fear it will no doubt add fuel to the ridiculous conspiracy theories that man has never set foot on the moon. (I mean…. with a good telescope, you can SEE the six lunar landers still sitting on the moon’s surface!) The ‘faking a landing’ angle has, of course, already been covered before in the excellent “Capricorn One” (dir. Peter Hyams) from 1977, but is given a fresh coat of paint and an added cat here.
Unfortunately, I thought the script by Rose Gilroy had periods of egregious dialogue that really grated on my ears. (This is not, by the way, related to some of the mysogenist comments throughout which I thought nicely summed up the male/female dynamic of the times.) I also felt that the “com” bit of “romcom” was stretching it a bit and it needed a lighter comedic touch throughout. That being said, there were moments that made me laugh, including the reaction of the real NASA guys to the actors that were hired to impersonate them!
In addition, at 130 minutes, the film is in my view at least 20 minutes too long. There are some scenes, such as one at an extended party/fireworks show, where the pace of the film just dies completely: that’s 10 minutes I would chop in one swift move if I had my way!
The Acting.
Acting-wise, Scarlett Johansson delivers a fine, if rather mannered, performance as the marketing lady with a chequered past. As a now 40-year-old, she still looks a million dollars on the screen. Elsewhere, my favourite performance of the film comes from Ray Romano who plays Cole’s right hand man Henry Smalls. A scene between Smalls and Jones is touchingly done and one of the high-points of the film for me.
On the other hand, I found virtually zero romantic chemistry between Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson. I put this mostly down to Tatum whose wooden performance delivers zero empathy with Johansson’s sterling efforts to make it work. A cute-meet in a diner (where Jones’s book is blazing away despite her having zero awareness of the heat and light emanating from it just a few inches from her face!) really doesn’t sizzle but is about the most chemistry there is in their scenes together.
Jim Rash as Lance I found completely over-the-top as the stroppy director in charge of the fake-moon-filming. It made me wish that Stanley Tucci was in the role (who I think would be the perfect casting).
Summary Thoughts on “Fly Me To The Moon”
I started off by rating this one a three-and-a-half star film. But looking at my positives vs negatives list, I felt I was being a bit over-generous with my rating. As a rom-com set against a momentus moment in human history, it entertained me to a degree and, I think, would particularly entertain viewers of a similar crinkly age. The illustrious Mrs Movie Man couldn’t make this, due to scheduling issues, but I think she will like this when she does get to see it.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Fly Me To The Moon”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1iSWMMnxaU .
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
