“Fly Me to the Moon” Launches Well
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed | July 12th, 2024
Fly Me to the Moon (Greg Berlanti, 2024) 3½ out of 5 stars
On the upcoming July 16, it will have been 55 years since the Apollo 11 mission set off into space. The year was 1969, and on July 20, two of the three astronauts—Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin—became the first humans to set foot on the moon (the other, Michael Collins, remained in the command module to pick up Armstrong and Aldrin once they left the surface). This remarkable technological achievement has captured the imagination ever since, as both noteworthy history and subject of documentary and fiction films alike.
In Fly Me to the Moon, the new film from director Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon)—from a script by Rose Gilroy—we find ourselves at Florida’s Cape Kennedy once again, in the months leading up to launch day. Mixing occasional archival footage (audio and picture) with recreations and dramatizations of events both real and invented, the filmmakers craft a romantic comedy that is equal parts silly and celebratory. We frequently laugh even as we gaze in awe at what was accomplished. If it sometimes chases down a few less successful script threads, the movie remains an entertaining romp for much of its duration.

Channing Tatum (The Lost City) stars as launch commander Cole Davis, a no-nonsense former fighter pilot who still bears the burdens of deep guilt over the Apollo 1 fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee in 1967. Everything needs to go right this time, both for his sake and the country’s. We’re locked in a space race with rival superpower the Soviet Union, after all.
Meanwhile, up in New York City, ad executive Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson, Asteroid City) is approached by Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson, Triangle of Sadness) a shadowy aide to the newly elected president, Richard Nixon. He both sabotages her successful campaign for Ford Motors and hints that he knows all about her apparently mysterious past to get her to agree to take on the job of NASA Head of Public Relations. The American public is losing interest in going to moon, and Congress is not eager to continue funding. Something must be done, and Moe thinks Kelly is the one to do it.

For a while, Fly Me to the Moon becomes a story about the tension between science and marketing. Cole just wants to do his job well and safely send Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins to the moon and back, but he has to face facts: he needs money and the support of national legislators. Kelly brings many great ideas about how to get both those things but has to overcome the resistance of the engineers at NASA and Cole himself. In addition, the two deal with their strong mutual attraction. There’s a lot of trafficking in old tropes, yet with enough of a twist to hold our interest.
And then, speaking of twists, Berkus shows up again and demands that Kelly create a fake moon landing to be filmed just in case either things don’t work out or the live TV feed from the spacecraft fails. She is reluctant, but he blackmails her with the dirt he has on her about stuff she’s done in the past (which we still don’t know anything about). So she hires a director she trusts, Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash, Bros), who though flamboyant in every possible way, agrees to do it and keep it a secret.

Peter Hyams made a film in 1977, entitled Capricorn One, that told a tale of a faked moon landing, and there have sadly long been rumors that Apollo 11 never made it to the actual moon, so this is hardly a new concept. It’s also a gimmicky direction in which to take the plot, though there is genuine humor in how it all works out, courtesy of a much-maligned black cat. Unfortunately, the movie was doing just fine without it.
Despite the uneven results, Fly Me to the Moon delivers enough of a rom-com joyride to make its over two-hour runtime seem to, well, fly by (except when it doesn’t). Johansson is a movie star for a reason, and her natural charisma and considerable talent make Kelly the center of every scene she’s in. Tatum tends to act with his jaw, but also holds his own, as does the rest of the ensemble. Not every cinematic journey need be a cosmic masterpiece to justify its existence. Sometimes good is good enough.

Nice review. Let’s us know the yea and nay of it. Thanks.