Fly Me to the Moon – An Uncoordinated Love Story (Early Review)

Following Apple’s attempts at conquering the award season with their release strategies behind Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon, with varying degrees of success, they aim to conquer the box office with stylistic crowd-pleasers. Starting with Argylle, their next effort is Fly Me to the Moon, a film that sees Greg Berlanti back in the director’s chair after spending much of his time as a producer on countless television series. The story follows Kelly Jones (Johansson), a visiting New York City marketing specialist tasked to reshape NASA’s public image. Meanwhile, NASA’s launch director, Cole Davis (Tatum), is quickly drawn to Kelly where chemistry and tension brew as his “by the book” dedication and her “out of the box” ways of thinking elevate the stakes behind the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

Berlanti, after a 6-year hiatus as director, makes a very splashy and stylistic return, bringing a charming, wholesome energy to the film without it becoming overindulgent. The film’s recreation of the 1960s brings a sufficiently authentic feel to the era without falling into the trap of the nostalgia-centric trend in recent media. The few instances of overt nostalgia are intentional through Kelly’s marketing tactics in continuously promoting popular products to gain interest in the NASA launch. The rest is done subtly through the film’s detailed production design, hairstyling, and costume design. One significant reference throughout the film is Cole’s collarless, buttonless shirts with the gold and blue colors inspired by Star Trek, which seemed to symbolize his leadership and scientific knowledge throughout.

Where the film truly falters, however, it within Rose Gilroy’s bloated and uncoordinated script. The film’s promotional material highlights a prominent romance being showcased at the forefront of an American historical event. The final product is far from the case as scenes of romantic interest are scarce as it instead focuses on the professional differences between Kelly and Cole in the handling of the launch. This lack of focus makes it unclear whether the chemistry between Kelly and Cole is present and makes it incredibly confusing for audiences trying to determine if their relationship is romantic or strictly work-related. Tatum plays into his character’s romantic and professional sides very heavily, making the issue more apparent in instances where Cole shows great interest in Kelly in one scene and completely despises her the next. Tatum’s commitment to his professional persona compared to his co-lead and supporting players appear to suggest that his character might not truly belong in the film.

Johansson, on the other hand, attempts to elevate the material with some courageous, comedic charm. She is given room to be playful in her salesman-type role by dabbling with different American accents to charm clients. Her transition from Kelly’s romantic life and professional life is much more fluid, and she does a more subtle job at portraying those differences on-screen. Johansson is also given the luxury of playing into a comedic role alongside supporting characters such as Moe Berkus (Harrelson), an eccentric government figure, Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash), a dramatic film director, and Henry Smalls (Ray Romano), an awkward but wise father figure, who all play into the film’s comedic and wholesome tone in different ways.

The film’s promotional material also highlights another subplot that involved the creation of a fake moon landing as a backup plan to a potential mission failure. Unfortunately, this subplot is yet one more element contributing to the its already bloated 132-minute runtime. An unnecessary epilogue to a flawed romcom that was otherwise resolved at that point, the film goes above and beyond with yet another act that merely felt added at the last moment to create unnecessary conflict in the telling of a straightforward historical event. Kelly’s attempt at creating a fake moon landing parallel to the real moon landing leaves the audience guessing at whether the film will be honorable in the portrayal of the moon landing or cross the line into historical revisionism.

In the end, Fly Me to the Moon is an unsuccessful attempt at drawing in lovers of romantic comedies. Those who are not admirers of the genre will be surprised at how little it focuses on their romantic relationship, but will not find any substance in the historical aspects of the story. While Berlanti and the actors try their best at delivering a film with energy and comedic charm, Gilroy’s script, and its clear lack of focus between the romantic and historical parts of the story, makes this hard to recommend to fans of either genre.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures/Apple Original Films

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Costa Christoulas

letterboxd.com/cchris_/