Film review: Fly Me to the Moon is a thoughtful if uninspiring conspiracy comedy
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in Fly Me to the Moon
- Fly Me to the Moon
- ★★★☆☆
- Cinematic release
“I knew we should have got Kubrick,” says Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) as she surveys the lunar surface of her movie set in (12A).
As every self-respecting conspiracy theorist knows, of course, Stanley Kubrick filmed the phoney moon landing in 1969.
Here, with NASA’s launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) under pressure to win the space race with the dastardly Russians, marketing genius Kelly is drafted in by Nixon’s White House to make a movie of a faked lunar landing behind Cole’s back, just in case he somehow fails to achieve ‘the hardest thing that has ever been done’.
A delicate operation at the best of times, matters are complicated when a tentative romance begins to bloom — but can love thrive on a lie?
Greg Berlanti’s rom-com aims for classic screwball comedy, and it certainly has three of the required elements: An offbeat scenario (that has plenty to say about mass media manipulation and the perception of truth) and two terrific leads, both of whom are very likeable in their own right.
Scarlett Johansson is bright, lively and sassy as the irrepressible Kelly, while Channing Tatum is a study in brooding, inarticulate charm as the former ace pilot who carries an unbearable burden of guilt.
Screwball comedy thrives on effortless comic timing though, and the duo’s back-and-forth can feel laboured at times, largely because the dialogue seeks to embrace themes weightier than the conventional soufflé of flirtatious badinage.
The result is more solid and thoughtful than an intoxicating whirl.
