by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $15.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Channun Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Jim Rash, Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano
Intro:
… balances a retro approach to onscreen romance, and indeed the romance of literally shooting for the stars, with well-earned moments of introspection and poking at the emphasis placed on aesthetics and being ‘convincing’ over genuine emotion and honesty.
The Space Race between the United States and the-then Soviet Union is remembered as many things: competition, spectacle, nationalism, all culminating in what stands as one of mankind’s greatest collective achievements in the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Of course, among the more cooked sectors, there’s a recurring idea that this never happened, or at least, didn’t happen in the way that “they” want people to believe.
The latest film from Love, Simon director and Arrowverse spearhead Greg Berlanti presents the idea of a Moon landing hoax as the cornerstone of a much larger conversation: the distinction between the packaging and the product; the promise and the final result; things that are done to convince the public that squeezing three people into a sardine tin strapped to a rocket, and sending them into the all-black everything, is a good idea, vs. the logistical engineering behind making that a reality.
Between Berlanti’s sizeable experience in television, and feature debut writer Rose ‘daughter of Dan’ Gilroy working off a story idea from Keenan Flynn and Bill Kirstein (producer and journeyman cinematographer respectively), there’s a tangible impression that real frustrations are being poured into this story about the struggle to get people to recognise and bank a good idea.
From there, Berlanti’s classically idealistic approach to the Space Race and all its pop culture osmosis manages to be a decent sibling feature with the much more intense First Man, in how it presents the race itself. Once the attempt at subterfuge becomes a major plot point (anchored by Jim Rash going on a scene-stealing spree as director Lance Vespertine), the pacing and stakes actively play on the idea of knowing that a hoax is in the works… and then teases the audience, both in and out of the film’s universe, with what they’re actually watching. This is aided further by the presence of Woody Harrelson as government spook Moe Berkus, who gives a suitably grey tinge to that idea as part of the larger space program; can’t help but think that a certain SNL monologue helped him clinch this role.
Where Fly Me to the Moon gets weirder is how that conflict between the sizzle and the steak plays into the film’s own marketing. While this is billed as a romance, with Apollo director Cole (Channing Tatum) and PR spin expert Kelly (Scarlett Johansson) at its centre, their relationship is more of a compliment to the bigger story about duelling priorities within media and the dirty secret of what funds man’s achievements rather than the main focus – Broadcast News for the new millennium, if you will. Tatum and Johansson’s chemistry is sparkling throughout, with his stoic trauma again fitting in with the nerve-wracking vibe of First Man, and her voice acting skills giving every knowing con job she pulls a hilarious validity. Bonus points for avoiding one of the sub-genre’s greatest recurring sins during the final reel, sticking to the focus on nature over artifice that made the love story Love, Simon so refreshing. Their relationship is fun and highly entertaining; it’s just that the film has much bigger bodies to orbit around.
Fly Me to the Moon deserves props for managing to deliver an ethically sound depiction of the Moon landing being faked, something that so very easily could have gone awry in more QAnon-stained hands. But beyond that, it balances a retro approach to onscreen romance, and indeed the romance of literally shooting for the stars, with well-earned moments of introspection and poking at the emphasis placed on aesthetics and being ‘convincing’ over genuine emotion and honesty. It manages to marry the sensibilities of then and now in a surprisingly harmonious way. It’s worth hopping onboard just for Tatum and Johansson (and Jim Rash), but there’s plenty more here to sweep you off your feet.
