Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 12 minutes, Director – Greg Berlanti
As NASA prepares for the moon landing, Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is brought in to market the agency and help secure funding, clashing with director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum).
Fly Me To The Moon is a film which sells itself on the charm of the two leads. Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum may have been cast as starry names to lead this rom-com stuffed with so many ideas that the rom-com sometimes feels like an afterthought, and their chemistry may be up for debate, but they ooze charm in every frame and make for a highly likable central duo.
Johansson’s marketing extraordinaire Kelly Jones is employed into NASA by the government, represented by Woody Harrelson’s suited Moe Berkus, in order to give the agency a marketing boost among the American people. It’s the late 60s and interest in the space race is dying, however the government wants to beat the Soviets for fear of what might happen if they lose, therefore NASA needs to ensure funding. However, Kelly’s ideas for Apollo 11 brand tie-ins and behind-the-scenes interviews for those within NASA clash with director Cole Davis (Tatum) who fears at every turn that the moon landing could be shut down.
As the pair’s relationship fluctuates amongst its workplace tension the struggles to sell NASA conflict with the struggle to get everything right in time for the big launch, while the government wants to fake the landing alongside the real events just in case something goes wrong, then the public are reassured and the Russians think they’ve lost. This latter point has featured in much of the marketing and doesn’t appear until what feels like over halfway into the film. While it produces a good deal of the comedy, particularly from Jim Rash as a Tab-bingeing director who needs full creative control to ensure his artistic vision, it’s another addition to a narrative largely constructed with various new ideas to show the pull between NASA and the government.
New issues and montages crop up every so often, with a black cat lurking around the agency being the least of Cole’s problems. Eventually the film shows signs of feeling too busy, especially in regards to its lengthy run-time which could be cut by half an hour for a tighter, better flowing film. Much of this comes from a slightly disconnected nature to the ideas which feel as if they’re being dealt with one at a time, yet somehow there’s still an enjoyable time to be had.
Much of it comes from the light, suitable-for-all-ages tone of the film, plus the central performances of Tatum and Johansson who cruise through in consistently likable style throughout, matching the traditional outline of the narrative. As a whole the film provides enough to entertain that while it might feel overlong it still remains enjoyable. Even the moon landing sequence itself, happening alongside chaos on the set of the fake landing, manages to conjure up some tension even while we know what happens. Yes, the structure may cause some issues, especially in the later stages and developments where you can feel the run-time, but what arrives during these clear stages provides enough good stuff, and infrequent chuckles, to help pass the time and move things along.
While the one-too-many stages bring an overlong feeling, Fly Me To The Moon lies on the charisma of its leads who bring a likable energy to the traditional leaning style of the overstuffed narrative.
Just A Little Bit Random 