Review: “Fly Me to the Moon” lands on solid ground

One year ago, Apple’s romantic dramedy “Fly Me to the Moon” took the motto of “fake it til you make it” to its logical extreme.

The film’s premise pokes fun at conspiracy theories that posit the moon landing in 1969 was staged by centering around a NASA team tasked with fixing NASA’s public image leading up to the Apollo 11 mission, later staging a backup moon landing, in case the real one fails. The project, codenamed Project Artemis, is led by marketing specialist Kelly Jones, played by Scarlett Johansson, who clashes with Apollo 11’s launch director Cole Davis, played by Channing Tatum, until they fall in love.

When it comes to romantic movies, no matter how interesting the premise is, a main couple without romantic chemistry can bring the whole thing down. Luckily, Johansson and Tatum have great chemistry and play off each other very well. This is especially evident from their witty banter and more intimate interactions. Their individual characters are engaging on their own as well.

Kelly is introduced as a driven saleswoman with a checkered past that leads her to join Project Artemis. As Kelly, Johansson gets to display a great deal of emotion and charisma, especially during scenes where she appeals to clients by faking an accent. 

By comparison, Cole is introduced as a no-nonsense engineer haunted by guilt stemming from a botched mission, but Tatum is able to balance seriousness with eccentricity, particularly in moments where Cole awkwardly flirts with Kelly or chases a black cat out of the hangar. 

The joy of getting to see these two on screen together is bolstered by the contrast between these two characters with similar career ambitions that put them at odds with each other and their supporting cast.

Woody Harrelson serves as a menacing and effective foil playing Moe Berkus, a mysterious government agent responsible for hiring Kelly. Ray Romano adds levity as Henry Smalls, Cole’s right-hand man who mainly serves as comic relief but also gets a serious moment that brings the two leads closer together. Jim Rash eats up his role as Lance Vespertine, an annoyingly ambitious director whom Kelly brings on to direct the fake moon landing.

Handpicked newcomer Anna Garcia describes her character, Kelly’s assistant and friend Ruby Martin as the audience surrogate. In that regard she succeeds, being responsible for one of the best scenes in the movie and serving to remind the other characters and the audience of the humanity behind the mission.

The 1960s elements were handled exquisitely here. The costumes designed by Mary Zophres look very faithful to the time, the dialogue written by Rose Gilroy is quite timeless, while throwing in the occasional ‘60s reference, and Daniel Pemberton’s score effectively mashes together ‘60s traditional pop with soundscapes reminiscent of classic space movies, but the period elements never feel hamfisted or overdone.

Director Greg Berlanti is no stranger to helming romantic comedies, and his direction here effectively balances the action and character moments. The camerawork, primarily done by Dariusz Wolski, is dynamic and interesting at times, and editor Harry Jierjian’s montages do a great job contrasting the action in the control room with the media’s spin on it all.

Despite being a historical fiction, Berlanti told ComicBook he considers truth the theme of the movie. This is best conveyed by the movie’s earnest tone. In watching it, there isn’t really any sense of irony or cynicism being felt, as the characters are sincere in their attempts to help each other make their dreams a reality.

While “Fly Me to the Moon” doesn’t really break new ground for the romantic comedy genre, it absolutely does its premise justice and proves to be a solid experience.