The Reel Review
With the historic, 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission just months away, the U.S. government hires a New York marketing executive to rehab NASA’s reputation, secure Congressional funding and maybe even stage a fake moon landing should the real mission end in failure. Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson star in this historical fiction/rom-com.
Johansson is hilarious as the constantly scheming marketing maven who always gets her way, with Tatum, as the Apollo 11 launch director, gamely playing her straight man comic foil. Their onscreen chemistry is evident, further heightened by impeccable production design and costuming that perfectly captures the period, transporting the viewer to 1969. Jim Rash (The Way Way Back, Community) steals the show as the mercurial commercial director, Lance Vespertine.
Fly Me to the Moon is a stylish, super cute and charming rom-com, underscored by nostalgia and some surprising lump-in-your-throat patriotism, as it honors those who have dedicated their lives to the space program. The whole fake moon landing story does get silly in the third act and distracts from an otherwise impressive film, but despite that, Fly Me to the Moon is a breezy, winsome, feel-good movie.
REEL FACTS
• Originally slated for a streaming release on AppleTV+, Fly Me to the Moon is loosely based on the 2002 mockumentary Operation Lune: Dark Side of the Moon, which pokes fun at the conspiracy theory that the moon landing was a hoax staged by director Stanley Kubrick. Fly Me to the Moon tested so well in early screenings that producers opted for a theatrical release.
• Channing Tatum replaced Chris Evans as the male lead after Evans dropped out of the project, his character loosely based on NASA Operations Director Deke Slayton, who was grounded from becoming an astronaut due to atrial fibrillation (a-fib).
• Fly Me to the Moon is the first film that Scarlett Johansson has appeared in with her husband, Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost.
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