Fly Me to the Moon (dir. Greg Berlanti)
By: Adam Freed
By the end of the 1960’s much of the youthful optimism of John F. Kennedy’s America had been replaced by ominous and divisive nightly news reports tabulating the daily American dead in the jungles of Vietnam. Richard Nixon represented a new American ideology, one that some Americans were not shy about openly criticizing. In the midst of an era of waning patriotism, NASA and the United States government hoped to fulfill Kennedy’s ambition of landing a manned spacecraft on the Moon before their Russian counterparts. Winning the space race would require bipartisan political support in order to raise the otherworldly funding required to turn science fiction into reality. Sitting in the center of this defining moment of political and social turmoil, is Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’s effervescent two handed dramedy Fly Me to the Moon.
The greatest shock of the film is just how much of a presence Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon) plays in its tonal success. Weaponizing a wildly successful, carefully edited and period specific opening credit montage, Berlanti provides contemporary audiences with a surfeit amount of prior knowledge while also framing the film’s mid century aesthetic. When the script allows, Fly Me to the Moon is light and propulsive, utilizing perfectly timed comedic performances to overshadow some of the predictable and needless expository dialogue. Berlanti has a knack for knowing exactly what audiences want to see, and for the most part the powerhouse television producer provides exactly that. Leaning into the lovable and talented duo atop the film’s marquee, Berlanti maximizes the talents of Johansson to flourish as Kelly Jones, a slick Manhattan ad executive hired to promote the American race to the moon. The director also wisely insulates Tatum’s NASA launch commander Cole Davis, by limiting the actor to playing to his romantic and comedic strengths.
To call Berlanti’s film a romantic comedy may be a bit of a misnomer as the film works far better allowing Johansson’s shining stardom to lead and framing everything below her on the call sheet to act as a top tier ensemble comedy. Very few films have the budgetary freedom (thank you Apple) to cast such heavyweight talents as Ray Romano and Woody Harrelson in supporting roles, but the choice to do so transforms what could’ve been a miss into a joyful experience. The scene stealing victor of the film though is Academy Award winning writer Jim Rash (The Descendants) who as Lance, the middling director, is brought in by Nixon’s governmental oversight agency to film a false version of the moon landing, thereby guaranteeing at least the perception of American success. The inclusion of open conversation about a fake moon landing takes the decades-long conspiracy theory head on, both feeding its plausibility and debunking its accuracy. A bold choice within the slightly overpacked script, that may have been better off left on the cutting room floor in an effort to streamline the over two hour film.
Apple’s flower child era space race comedy is packed with genuine heart and plenty of laughs to win over most audiences. While NASA film historians will certainly not rush to replace Ron Howard’s iconic Apollo 13 (1995) or Damien Chazelle’s First Man (2018) with Fly Me to the Moon, Berlanti’s big budget pleaser never tonally attempts to claim such a mantle as it wisely and intentionally presents a much lighter approach. As the Vietnam war subdivided the American people into camps, it was NASA and the heroes of Apollo 11 that provided the common patriotic bond that was so badly needed. Fly Me to the Moon looks back on this nationally defining moment with humor and a dash of longing, proving an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavor.
Target Score: 7.5/10 Fly Me to the Moon is a crowd pleasing, star studded affair. It is the rare movie that even in its lost moments, makes it very difficult to wipe the smile from one’s face.