Movie Review: Despite Conspiracy Vibe, ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Is Safe Summer Romcom

It has been an uphill battle at the box office for Fly Me to the Moon. While the film is both romcom and historical dramedy starring a couple of big names in Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, audiences have been put off by its peculiar marketing choices.

With various plotlines running through this feature, why would Sony choose to focus on the one that is probably the most negatively viewed conspiracy theory in world history?

In Fly Me to the Moon, our leads are the fictional characters Kelly Jones (Johansson), part-advertising saleswoman, part-scammer who looks like a beauty pageant queen, and Korean War veteran Cole Davis (Tatum), now working as a director at NASA in the late 1960s. When a government agent named Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) recruits Kelly to manage the public marketing of NASA’s mission to the moon, sparks instantly fly romantically and literally between the opportunist and the no-nonsense manager amid the space race.

Jim Rash plays Kelly’s former boss and an aspiring filmmaker, Anna Garcia is her feminist supporting personal assistant, and Ray Romano co-stars as a longtime colleague of Cole. Fly Me to the Moon is directed by Greg Berlanti of Life as We Know It (2010) and Love, Simon (2018), and has Rose Gilroy making her screenplay debut.

Though the story is centered around the real moon landing, its accompanied by a made-up scenario in which the government insists on fake footage as a back-up plan if the mission fails.

Kelly and Cole provide a traditional “will they or won’t they” dynamic throughout the picture. It should be noted that while the characters do agree to shoot the “alternative” footage, this arc doesn’t even appear until mid-way through the film and — spoiler — we evidently make it to the moon.

All the good characters agree faking footage is wrong and the script makes fun of the concept regularly. At the same time, because this is based on one of the most famous moments in U.S. history, there aren’t really any high stakes or tension on whether the flight through space will be successful since we already know how it ends.

Fly Me to the Moon features plenty of retro aesthetics from the costume design and art direction to the use of scene wipes and both vertical and horizontal split-screen shots common with movies of the era. Ultimately though, the film is mostly a reminder of how much Scarlett Johansson is a natural movie star.

She not only looks perfect in her ‘60s hair and make-up and seems like she’s having a blast with the comedy gags, but also effortlessly sells the movie all on her own. Garcia and Rash serve as good foils for her to play off of and Tatum is effectively charming as the straight-forward male lead.

Although the film doesn’t really offer anything groundbreaking or original, I would say Fly Me to the Moon is still a decent, safe romcom you’re looking for something to watch at the end of the day.