Fly Me to the Moon
In order to grapple a topic like the Apollo 11 moon landing, and also hint at one of the fundamental conspiracy theories about it, in a successful manner, one has to be very nimble to navigate it in a way that captures the solemn nature of the actual event, as well as brings humor to the situation at play on screen. Unfortunately, Rose Gilroy’s screenplay isn’t that nimble, and as a result, “Fly Me to the Moon” cannot quite capture the necessary magic.
Truth be told, the story by Keenan Flynn and Bill Kirstein is built on a compelling foundation. In the 1960s, the government, and NASA, have a tough time selling the importance of the moon race to the general public. With war a nightly feature on television sets, the Civil Rights movement, political assassinations and the tragedy of Apollo 1 in people’s minds, beating the Russians in putting a man on the moon is not a priority. And so, in this film’s telling, a shadowy government agent brings a New York advertising rep in to sell America on the moon, as well as having a contingency plan in case things don’t go as they should. I like this story, but at 132 minutes, it felt really drawn out and repetitive at times.
As the ad exec, we see right away that Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is someone willing to skirt reality to get the results that she wants. The ways in which she has done that throughout her life is part of why Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) is interested in bringing her on to spruce up NASA’s image, against the wishes of Launch commander Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), who is focused on getting Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon and back. Ultimately, can they work together? And more importantly, will they find love?
Director Greg Berlanti (a producer on several DC TV projects, and the director of “Love, Simon,” “Life as We Know It”) is ill-suited for the subtle emotions necessary for this film to work. There’s an earnestness to Davis and his passion for what NASA is doing that is admirable, and I think the film captures fine, but at the same time, the attempts at humor don’t work quite as well as the film wants to make it work. If the film had centered most of its narrative of the dynamic between Kelly and Cole and the romantic angle of these opposites ultimately working together (which would have worked because Johansson and Tatum are good together), I think “Fly Me to the Moon” would have been more successful. Unfortunately, the film overcomplicates its story with overcomplicating Kelly’s character, as well as the fact that they try and meld reality with conspiracy theory by having Berkus have Kelly try and stage the moon landing for America. Granted, this subplot gives us more of Jim Rash’s overbearing director- which is a nice plus- but it also undercuts the sincerity the film has operated with during much of its running time, and also normalizes a harmful conspiracy theory at a time when we should be minimizing the spread of such theories. The way that pays off doesn’t make it a deal-breaker, though; it just illuminates why this film doesn’t quite work the way it should. It’s ultimate the type of fluffy rom-com that audiences might enjoy, and I did enjoy this to an extent. But “Fly Me to the Moon” made me hope it soared more than it did.
