Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, Fly Me To The Moon is a sharp, stylish romantic comedy set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’s (Tatum) already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, the countdown truly begins….
REVIEW:
I expect chemistry in my romantic comedies- and like a wedding dress on a nuptial day a little bit old, something new and a little blue.
Fly Me to the Moon backdrops during the Apollo 11 mission. Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum have the chemistry and comic timing to prevent a failure to launch. The fake moon landing adherents and detractors get a novel plot that gives both sides plausible deniability. A Stanley Kubrick wannabe gets to direct his dream project, which gets seen and unseen. The old comic steps to love are exercised with all due Doris Day/Rock Hudson respect, gentle prodding and wit. There’s enough rude, crude and blueness in Woody Harrelson’s man in black government operative to lend some X Files truth to the lies to keep the Qs and Nons happy and not happy.
Fly Me to the Moon may not be one giant leap for rom-coms. Neither is it a small step back. It comes in peace for all man and womankind, plants it flag, and safely returns to earth. Mission accomplished.
Tatum and Johansson have automatic chemistry. It’s not quite Rock Hudson and Doris Day level, but it’s enough. Comic timing and chemistry will always win against contrived dialogues, some unfortunate 60s hairstyle and fashion choices.
Johansson sports a too blonde blonde wig that homages both Marilyn Monroe and Day. It’s kind of makes her sassy and smart but also alerts you to the con under the doo. The beauty mark in the perfect spot on her left cheek makes her Marilyn Monroe the screen version and not the sad Norma Jean underneath. It’s works because the character does have a sad backstory. Johansson’s Day side echoes to the smart independent woman Day often liked portraying. Against a feminist assistant, that often accompanies Johansson scene to scene, it comes off as a bit on the nose- a case of sidekick and shtick not fully meshing.
Johansson character’s advertising smarts are based on creating a believable story and humanity that matches the product being sold. It’s all a reflection of her own inner doubts and fight to gain respect in a male dominated world. She may not be smarter but she is better at outsmarting them. Her cons are smart, gentle, winkingly considerate. She spoon feeds men bits of flattery that they can easily believe without undue angst and self-reflection. She changes them by humanizing them for the better.
Tatum’s straight arrow is often dressed in Captain Kirk looking yellow brown tops. They’re intended to latently show his space credentials, his captain creds and his Jim Kirk ability to smartly adapt to any crisis. It’s a fun nod that needed to be scaled back a wee bit. It’s also at odds with a backstory that gives him layers of grief and guilt that Kirk never displayed. Tatum sells his character with square jawed sincerity, and huge gobs of old school patriotism. And lots of precise comic timing.
The Mr. Orthodoxy meets Miss Catastrophe plot goes back to the beginning of screwball comedies. The merging of sides of the conwoman into the rational and honest man and the moral man making an honest woman out of her is the plot and thematic revolve. The romance is chaste, and because of the levels of cons either government based or Johansson created, is slow to evolve. When it does come, in the slap dash last twenty minutes, the audience easily buys it.
Fly Me to the Moon gets a 3.5/5 ora B+.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Screenplay by
Rose Gilroy
Story by
- Bill Kirstein
- Keenan Flynn
Produced by
- Scarlett Johansson
- Jonathan Lia
- Keenan Flynn
- Sarah Schechter
Starring
- Scarlett Johansson
- Channing Tatum
- Jim Rash
- Ray Romano
- Woody Harrelson
Cinematography
Edited by
Harry Jierjian
Music by
Production
companies
- Apple Studios
- These Pictures
Distributed by
- Columbia Pictures (through Sony Pictures Releasing)
Release dates
- July 8, 2024(AMC Lincoln Square)
- July 12, 2024(United States)
Running time
132 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$100 million[2]
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