Fly Me to the Moon
The sparks refuse to fly in a misguided attempt to blend romantic comedy with conspiracy theory.
Not the facts, Ma’am: Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum
Photo by Dan McFadden, Image courtesy of Sony Pictures
Apparently, the most iconic recorded image in human history was almost never filmed. Such was the secrecy surrounding Nasa’s Apollo 11 mission to the moon, that the idea of cameras of any description were verboten. But with underfunding and government cutbacks, the entire enterprise was in danger of being scrapped until Scarlett Johansson was brought on board – or whatever character she is playing in the film. There is a ton of fascinating material here, the stuff of great historical drama, but which has been jettisoned in favour of a single-engined comedy. And little of it is true.
Cinemas are currently being buffeted by real-life narratives “inspired by real events,” and Greg Berlanti’s lacklustre Fly Me to the Moon is no exception, the opening voiceover informing us that this is “a real story – mostly.” Mostly we get Hollywood’s standard vision of the 1960s preserved in aspic, a decade crammed with pop songs, male chauvinism, Vietnam imagery and talk of the space race, and so this latest stab at the period feels like Mad Men meets First Man.
Scarlett Johansson is the superstar ad exec who can flog pastels to the colourblind and is entrusted with selling the moon to the nation. On the opposing bench is the publicity-adverse Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), who has good reason to bury his part in the catastrophic Apollo 1 debacle that incinerated three men. Unfortunately, Fly Me to the Moon is packaged as a romcom, which is regrettable as there is zero rocket fuel between Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum and the lightweight comedic approach undermines the credibility of what really could have been an extraordinary story.
Every flourish is overstated, not least the participation of a commercials director called Lance Vespertine played by Jim Rash, whose flamboyant personification of camp seems modelled on Stanley Tucci on an off day. Vespertine is hired to direct a back-up moon landing (‘Project Artemis’) on a sound stage in case the real thing backfires, which prompts Johansson to deliver the only half-decent line in the movie: “I think we should’ve got Kubrick.” Kubrick is ever-present though, along with the mandatory chords from ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’ woven into the soundtrack. Indeed, the music is possibly the worst offender, which is all the more surprising as the nudge-nudge comic score is penned by Daniel Pemberton, arguably Britain’s most accomplished film composer working today. So much talent is squandered here, on a project that started with a terrific premise and then sacrificed it on the altar of the lowest common denominator.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Nick Dillenburg, Noah Robbins, Colin Woodell, Christian Zuber, Gene Jones, Dariusz Wolski.
Dir Greg Berlanti, Pro Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Lia, Keenan Flynn and Sarah Schechter, Screenplay Rose Gilroy, from a story by Bill Kirstein and Keenan Flynn, Ph Dariusz Wolski, Pro Des Shane Valentino, Ed Harry Jierjian, Music Daniel Pemberton, Costumes Mary Zophres, Sound Laurent Kossayan and Erick Ocampo, Dialect coach Amy Chaffee.
Apple Studios/Berlanti-Schechter Films/These Pictures-Sony Pictures.
131 mins. USA/UK. 2024. UK Rel: 6 July 2024. US Rel: 12 July 2024. Cert. 12A.
