“Fly Me to the Moon” (2024)
For a movie about the spectacle of going to the moon, you would expect “Fly Me to the Moon” to be, well, a little more spectacular.
The film isn’t awful by any means. It has its moments of joy and tenderness that are compelling, but it also gets bogged down by backstories and characters that are more disturbing than the light-hearted romp that “Fly Me to the Moon” is trying to be.
Scarlett Johansson stars as Kelly Jones, a marketing expert recruited to help NASA’s public image. Opposite her is Channing Tatum as NASA Launch Director Cole Davis, who is against some of Kelly’s extreme tactics.
Casting two of the most charismatic current movie stars wasn’t exactly a gamble, but it is one that really paid off. Both Johansson and Tatum delivered charming performances, and their chemistry kept you watching despite any flaws in the plot or storytelling.
The unfolding of Kelly’s backstory and her interactions with Woody Harrelson’s Moe Berkus at certain points feel like they could be in a thriller film instead of this dramedy. Plus, some of the methods Kelly uses as a marketer are so infuriating that you wonder what Cole sees in her at all. I’m not naive enough to think no marketer has ever done things like this, but it does give a bad wrap to the profession, where, especially now, there are people focused on more authentic storytelling as a practice.
Ultimately, there is some fun to be had in this film, but I ultimately found it rather formulaic and forgettable. Even some solid supporting work from Jim Rash and Ray Romano can’t save it.