Think again if you were under the impression that the cinematic possibilities for the Apollo 11 lunar landing had been fully explored. If nothing else, Greg Berlanti’s lighthearted space comedy provides a novel viewpoint on revisionism. Here, Scarlett Johansson’s character, advertising genius Kelly Jones, is taken from her luxurious New York position and assigned to provide the underfunded NASA with much-needed public relations support in the lead-up to that crucial mission. Nevertheless, a convoluted plot that overcomplications the picture unduly wastes that intriguing idea.
Fly Me To The Moon has a nice workplace romantic comedy somewhere in it. Kelly’s enthusiastic approach to public relations clashes with the more pragmatic launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), whose frustration mounts when Kelly haggles Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin for cereal commercials and Omega watch sponsorships. However, even Cole cannot discount the effectiveness of clever marketing, and the two eventually click on a deep level. The space-race romance in the movie has an infectious charm that is not diminished by a lot of corny pans to the starry skies.
Fly Me To The Moon is dull, lifeless cinematography throughout, even with its high $100 million budget tag.
Interestingly, though, this is a movie divided into two strangely different parts. The first is predictable but lighthearted, and then it swings to a second, weaker segment about Kelly being enlisted to secretly record a phoney moon landing in case the real mission doesn’t work out. Despite her reluctance, she complies out of need. Though Rose Gilroy’s screenplay leaves the spectator in the dark regarding Kelly’s dubious past, there are hints of it, so when Kelly feels threatened by her enigmatic boss (Woody Harrelson), her high-wire act lacks weight. There’s nothing more stale than simple retellings of the
Moon landing films are those that fabricate a lunar landing.
The sequence that plays out when Armstrong ultimately touches down on the moon seems to have been done so much on screen that it’s no longer necessary to reinvent the wheel. However, as films like First Man have shown, it’s still quite easy to add mystery and suspense to a well-known event like Apollo 11. The fact that it is so boring to look at also doesn’t help. Fly Me To The Moon is filled with dull, flat photography that underutilizes its grandiose setting, even with its high $100 million budget tag.
Berlanti’s film has all the ingredients to be a successful throwback rom-com, including a strong cast, an alluring 1960s backdrop, and high stakes, but the end product is clumsy and unimpressive. Though it never quite makes it to those lofty altitudes, Fly Me To The Moon aims for the stars.
Although Greg Berlanti’s revisionist comedy presents a novel perspective on the Apollo 11 moon landing, its intricate plot falls short of leveraging the allure of Johansson and Tatum’s professional romance.