3.5/5 stars
Set during the 1960s space race, Fly Me to the Moon is a breezy romantic comedy that taps into the mythology surrounding the 1969 moon landing.
Scarlett Johansson plays Kelly Jones, a go-getting advertising executive with a slightly chequered past. One day, she is accosted by Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), a government operative looking to recruit her to promote Nasa’s man-on-the-moon mission to politicians and the public.
It is his job to make sure Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins complete their mission safely. But he immediately bristles at Jones’ trickery, not least her use of actors pretending to be Nasa staff in media interviews.
But then comes the real test, as Berkus engages her in Project Artemis, a secret scheme to film a fake moon landing in case the real one goes belly up.
Touching on the long-held conspiracy theory that Stanley Kubrick was involved in faking the event (the director gets name-checked more than once), Fly Me to the Moon counts down to the big day in July 1969 well enough.
Less successful is the on-off attraction between Jones and Davis, who is taking her for a spin in his plane one minute, then chiding her for her duplicitous nature the next minute. Their coupling never really seems in doubt, despite the friction.
Director Greg Berlanti, known for his work on American television shows such as Dawson’s Creek, has conjured up romcoms before, including films such as The Broken Hearts Club, but this feels a little too slick to be truly enchanting.
Elements of the story – including one about a pesky black cat – are telegraphed in such a way that even a child could see what is coming. But Johansson and Tatum are polished, easy-on-the-eye actors and Harrelson plays the de facto villain well.
Moreover, with a script that explores the idea that the space race was more a battle of ideologies than the triumph of man, it has enough charms to rocket past its flaws.