Greg Berlanti‘s take on the race to the moon during the 1960s shines when focusing on the ad campaigns. Unfortunately, Fly Me to the Moon fizzles when venturing into romance territory.
Fly Me to the Moon centers around NASA’s struggles with the Apollo 11 mission. A liaison of President Richard Nixon, Mo Berkus (Woody Harrelson) blackmails marketing genius Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) into increasing interest in the space program. Her slippery relationship with honesty results in her butting heads with the buttoned-up (in more ways than one) Flight Director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum). As they work together to find political supporters for the Apollo 11 mission, these different people grow closer together.
Berkus’s contingency plan throws the relationship off course. He wants Davis and her team of creative geniuses to stage the moon landing in case Apollo 11 fizzles out. She brings an eccentric director, Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash), to run the production.
Johansson and Tatum are excellent sparring partners but less so as paramours. Johannson is terrific at taking on chameleon-like roles. Similar to her role as Black Widow, she’s tasked with playing a woman who rarely tells the truth and knows how to manipulate others. Tatum is a master at showing exasperation, which makes Cole’s befuddlement over Kelly’s schemes Fly Me to the Moon‘s best dynamic.
Unfortunately, the romantic relationship between Kelly and Cole doesn’t work. On paper, these two opposites should attract. However, when one of these characters adheres to honesty and the other views truth as inconvenient, there’s just no reason to root for them as a couple. There’s also enough outside pressure on these two characters that the movie doesn’t need the romantic subplot.
Thankfully, the supporting cast, led by Rash and Ray Ramono, gives Fly Me to the Moon a lift. Rash can be grating at times, but his comedic voice is perfect as the director of the farce moon landing. Ramono exudes warmth as Cole’s No. 2 Henry Smalls, which allows the launch of Apollo 11 to hit an emotional level resoundingly.
Fly Me to the Moon has all the ingredients for a great drama documenting the marketing campaign surrounding Nasa. The focus on the romantic relationship hurts the film. However, the surrounding ingredients are enough to make this Berlanti-directed film a successful launch.
With the overview complete and raking Fly Me to the Moon 7 out of 10 (Good), let’s dive deeper into the respective races to space and how the two main characters face their pasts. Fly Me to the Moon is in theaters but will stream on Apple TV Plus.
Selling the Final Frontier
The promise of future space travel pales in comparison to the real-world issues of the Vietnam War. NASA is on fumes at this point, with public and political support waning. NASA’s lone saving grace is the race with the Soviet Union.
In an effort to spur public sentiment towards the space program, Moe forces Kelly to take a job to fix NASA perception problem. Kelly’s a marketing savant with substantial experience in the auto industry.
She arrives at Cape Canaveral and receives a cold reception from Cole. He wants nothing to do with her, but she’s undeterred. Her marketing campaign begins with hiring actors to play the engineers, executives and even Cole. As NASA’s public image improves, Cole and Kelly work closely together to drum up political support. A romance takes flight between the former Air Force pilot and the marketing genius whose secrets include more than simply her past.
Faking a Moon Landing in Fly Me to the Moon
One of Kelly’s secrets is a backup plan in case the Apollo 11 mission fails. Moe forces Kelly to stage a production of the moon landing. The United States can’t afford a failed moon landing. Moe forbids Kelly from revealing the plan to Cole or anyone else at NASA. Her history will be revealed if she doesn’t agree.
Kelly turns to a high-maintenance commercial director who views himself in a different league than Stanley Kubrick. Kelly learns more about specific details to replicate the moon on film. From the chalky texture of the surface to the particular specific steps astronauts will take on the moon, Kelly and her assistant Ruby (Anna Garcia) provide the necessary details to the production team.
What starts as a contingency if the launch fails becomes the North Star. No matter the launch’s success, everyone will see the fake version of the moon landing on television unless Kelly reveals the plan to Cole. Not only will revealing the information lead to the end of her relationship with Cole, but it could also result in her going to jail.
Confronting the past
Kelly and Cole have different approaches when dealing with their respective paths.
Kelly was a con woman. She’s straight now but chooses to run from her past instead of facing it. Kelly has multiple fake IDs and doesn’t even give Cole her real name until the 3rd act of the film. For Kelly, the solution to any problem is selling the lies people want to believe in.
Cole faces his past head-on. He was the flight director for a failed Apollo mission that cost the lives of three astronauts. Cole feels the weight of that loss and chooses to confront his mistakes rather than run from them. During an interview he didn’t want to do in the first place, a reporter brings up the failed mission, and Cole addresses the screw-up before nearly ripping the reporter’s head off. He also visits the memorial and plants flowers to honor the dead men.
These divergent relationships with the past show why this romantic pairing doesn’t work.
Fly me to the Moon Final Thoughts
Berlanti and Rose Gilroy‘s script fixates too much on an ill-advised romance. However, the preparations for the actual moon landing, the production of a fake moon landing, and the combative chemistry between Tatum and Johansson turn Fly Me to the Moon into a successful launch.
The Review
Fly Me to the Moon
PROS
- Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum are excellent sparring partners.
- Jim Rash is comedic gold while Ray Ramano brings warmth as members of the supporting cast.
- The races to land on the fake and real moon are both exhilarating.
CONS
- The central romance doesn't work at all.
