On July 10, the satirical comedy «Fly me to the moon» starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. The plot of the film refers to the Moon Conspiracy, which is the falsification of the US moon landing. In the review below, we explain how the «Apollo» program was turned into pure marketing and how harmonious the Johansson-Tatum pairing looks on screen.
Pluses:
a good cast with the brilliant Scarlett Johansson in the foreground in every sense; a moderately interesting interpretation of the conspiracy theory about the falsification of the moon landing; and a sincere desire of the authors to entertain the viewer with a mostly lighthearted story;
Minuses:
The story doesn't work well as a satire or as a romantic comedy capable of evoking a sincere audience response; inappropriate superficial drama is added to the lighthearted narrative; Channing Tatum looks faded;
«Fly Me to the Moon»
Genre satirical comedy, romantic comedy
Director Greg Berlanti
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Colin Woodell, Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Stefanie Kurtzuba, Joe Cross, Nick Dillenburg, Peter Jacobson
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
It’s the late 1960s, and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union is on. But this long-running marathon no longer has much public support, so to improve NASA’s image and emphasize the importance of the moon landing mission, cunning government agent Moe Berkus comes into play. He recruits an adventurous and talented PR specialist, Kelly Jones, whose task is essentially to turn the highly responsible preparations for the mission into a ruthless capitalist marketing campaign.
NASA Director Cole Davis, who was responsible for the launch of «Apollo 11», does not agree with this state of affairs. But he is forced to obey Kelly’s crazy ideas, which are fully supported by Mr. Berkus. The situation becomes even more tense when the harsh agent orders the woman to secretly film the moon landing in a specially equipped pavilion. This not only falsifies the mission but also discredits Cole’s work and the entire agency in absentia. Oh, I wish she had called Kubrick.
«Fly Me to the Moon» was originally planned as a streaming premiere on Apple TV+, but after successful test screenings, it was sent to theaters. Directed by Greg Berlanti and written by debutante Rose Gilroy, the film tries its best to appear as a lighthearted, enjoyable entertainment, but at certain moments it fails in this area.
This is due to the uncertainty in the script, the author of which cannot decide what she wants to offer the viewer: a witty satire on historical events and related conspiracies, a light romantic comedy with star performers, or both genres in one bottle.
Be that as it may, a harmonious symbiosis of genres did not work out, because the film does not realize itself 100 percent in any of them. For a high-quality satire, which positioning the film is a distributor, there is not enough witty ridicule, and there is not enough romantic interaction between the main characters for a sensual rom-com.
At some point, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’s characters get a hint of a dramatic background, but it remains a superficial hint that doesn’t add any quality drama to the story. In other words, «Fly Me to the Moon» is more of a drama than something purely comedic, but these intonational swings don’t work well together. The plot of the film seems to be woven from cautious half measures that do not want to evolve into something fully harmonious.
Kelly Jones’s activities are somewhat reminiscent of the scam that the characters in the series pulled off «Hello, Tomorrow!» on the same Apple TV+. There, if you recall, salespeople thirsty for high profits were also engaged in marketing for a moon flight, supported by a fake video with a fake actor in the frame. Here, the situation is similar, but with the difference that the organization of the promotion of the «product» is not a fake office, but someone close to the government. Plus, the characters pursued different goals.
But he himself plot We had the opportunity to watch the story of the blonde woman who suddenly found herself at NASA just last week, but it’s better not to mention it again. And let’s not forget about the cat — after the recent «A Quiet Place: Day One» A furry in the frame (here this nuance is critical) already seems to be a new Hollywood trend.
While questions arise from the narrative point of view, i.e., the content, from the technical point of view, i.e., the form, everything is almost on the same level.
The jewel of this show is undoubtedly the brilliant Scarlett Johansson, against whom the restrained Tatum pales. He is as faded here as his character’s name. Again, the fact that there is no exciting interaction between the characters is the fault of the authors, not the performers. In addition, on former Black Widow so many brightly colored outfits that her Kelly a priori stands out among the gray crowd.
But the one who adheres exclusively to the business dress code is the ubiquitous government agent played by the inimitable Woody Harrelson. His Moe Berkus seems to have migrated here from the movie set «White House Plumbers» — another not particularly inventive satire, the plot of which also focused on resonant historical events during the Nixon presidency, though with a «minus» sign.
«Fly Me to the Moon» copes with the function of unpretentious summer entertainment, but at the same time it is difficult to get rid of the feeling that something much wittier and more exciting could have been squeezed out of the available resources (cast, interesting historical event, $100 million budget, etc.).
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