FLY ME TO THE MOON : Tuesday 13th August 2024.

I saw the M Rated 'FLY ME TO THE MOON' earlier this week at my local independent picture house, and this American romantic dramedy is Directed by Greg Berlanti whose prior feature film output takes in 'The Broken Hearts Club' in 2000, 'Life as We Know It' in 2010 and 'Love, Simon' in 2018 as well as creating, writing and producing numerous successful TV shows and series. This film was released here in Australia and the US on 11th July, had a production budget of US$100M, has so far grossed US$41M and has garnered mixed critical reviews.

The film opens up with the three man crew of NASA's Apollo 1 preparing for a launch rehearsal test in late January 1967 when an electrical fire breaks out in the cabin killing all three crew members - Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee, and destroyed the command module. The Director in charge of the test Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) has had to live with the memory of that ill fated day ever since. We then cut to New York City and marketing ace Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is seen in a meeting with three men, all of whom have very clearly defined views on women in the workplace, and is there to pitch a motor vehicle campaign, which needless to say she aces too after correctly guessing the make and model of the cars the three drive. Following that meeting she is met by Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) who works for President Richard Nixon as his 'fixer', and offers her the role of a lifetime down in Florida to fix up NASA's public image, which she can hardly refuse, and especially considering Kelly's somewhat dubious background which he says would also allow her to walk away ultimately with a clean slate. 

And so Kelly and her trusted assistant Ruby Martin (Anna Garcia) fly down to Cape Kennedy, Florida where they quickly meet with, and fail to hit it off, with Cole and his right hand man in mission control Henry Smalls (Ray Romano). After establishing themselves in situ at NASA HQ Kelly quickly unveils her marketing plans to lift awareness of NASA among the American public with extremes in her campaign ranging from Omega Watches sponsorship to having the breakfast cereal that goes Snap, Crackle and Pop replaced with Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, who plan to blast off in Apollo 11 on 16th July 1969 - some 170 days hence, and be the first men to walk on the Moon. 

Needless to say as Kelly's various campaigns begin to prove successful, Cole's stance toward her begins to soften. However, the fly in the ointment proves to be a number of government senators who are opposed to the NASA programme and want to shut down the Apollo mission and redirect that funding to more meaningful purposes that will have a direct positive impact on the American people. And so Kelly goes to work on Senator Hopp (Gene Jones), Senator Cook (Colin Jost), Senator Hedges (Victor Garber) who of them all is walk in the park as he is already pro-NASA, but its Senator Vanning (Joe Chrest) who is the real problem child. 

And so one evening Cole decides to introduce Kelly to the love of his life Jenny - his own twin prop two seater plane - and fly them both across the border to meet for dinner with Senator Vanning and his wife Jolene (Stephanie Kurtzuba) at their home. The Vanning's are God fearing folk who believe in the word of the bible over science hence his seemingly staunch resistance to supporting NASA. Cole however, wins him over with a counter argument of how science and religion go hand in hand on this project, and on national TV Vanning pledges his support to the cause. 

Moe shows up one day unannounced with a suitcase, and discusses its contents first with Kelly before calling Cole into the meeting. He motions to the suitcase and asks Cole to look inside, revealing a bulky and heavy looking camera which Moe wants attached to the lunar landing module to take video footage that can be beamed back to Earth. Cole immediately says no, and that they are at a point where they are having to weigh every screw in an attempt to reduce the weight, and strapping a 15lb camera to the pod is totally impractical. Moe then mentions that he can always advise the President to withdraw funding to which Cole very reluctantly agrees and calls in two of his top engineers Stu Bryce and Don Harper (Donald Elise Watkins and Noah Robbins respectively) to strip the camera down to its bear bones and mount it on the pod. 

The next time Moe shows up he has a much more outlandish plan for Kelly, but she is sworn to secrecy apart from those in her inner circle, which does not include either Cole or Henry under any circumstances. She is given top secret access to a hangar in which she she is to 'stage' a fake Moon landing as a back up in the event that the real landing fails for whatever reason. And so Kelly and Ruby set to work, and they hire a Director whom they have worked with previously on ad campaigns in New York - Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash) who at first struggles with the concept, the surroundings and the 'actors' hired to portray Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. But after a number of set backs Lance comes good as the day approaches. 

On launch day Kelly confides to Cole the plan to stage a fake Moon landing. Needless to say he is none to pleased at the prospect and storms off. Cole is advised that a component on the lunar lander camera is broken and enlist Stu and Don to investigate immediately. Reporting back that they need a component from a modern day colour TV set they jump in Coles Mustang with Kelly behind the wheel and drive off frantically to the nearest TV retail outlet only to find it closed for the pending launch. Kelly throws a garbage bin through the window of the shop while Stu enters and grabs a TV just as the Police show up. Caught red handed, Kelly turns on her charm and before you know it they are tearing back to Mission Control with a Police escort leading from in front. Stu hurriedly enters the cabin, replaces the component with just a few moments to spare before countdown begins. 

And so watched by a global audience Apollo 11 successfully launches into orbit. Some twenty-seven hours later the lunar landing module touches down on the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon. In the hangar housing the fake Moon landing mock up the cameras are set to roll, while simultaneously the cameras are also set to roll on the Moon. Watching on dual monitors in the hangar is Moe, Kelly and Ruby who once Armstrong exits the lunar lander can hardly tell the difference between the events unfolding for real on the Moon and those within the hangar. Until that is, a pesky black cat appears on the gantry directly above the fake set up, and is then chased by a Security Officer who gets his legs tangled in a rope and falls over the edge of the gantry to come to halt dangling just out of view of the camera. Meanwhile, the cat has run off and is running amok on the fake lunar landscape and ends up between the legs of 'Neil Armstrong'. 

Fortunately the footage had been cut by this time, but no one is any wiser as to which footage is real that is being broadcast to the world. It wasn't until Armstrong uttered those immortal words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' that they all realise that the real Moon landing footage is being beamed around the world. And so the team, including Moe, breathe a big sigh of relief.

In the aftermath, Moe congratulates Kelly on a job well done and tells her that her history is now cleared and that she is free to start afresh. Kelly confides her back story to Cole saying that she was brought up from a very young age to sell door to door with her Mum and she would scam people into buying stuff they didn't need and that was how she ended up becoming a marketing whizz, and by the way, her real name is Winnie. Cole, having told Kelly that he never wants to see her again following her reveal about the fake Moon landing, embraces her, and they kiss. 

I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised by 'Fly Me to the Moon' which is part RomCom, part drama, part nostalgic history lesson and part conspiracy theory all wrapped into one neat little package with the chemistry between Johansson and Tatum clearly evident here, ably aided and abetted by Romano and always on top form Harrelson. This film is a real throwback to the comedies of the '60's featuring the likes of Hudson and Day, and on that level it works just fine if that's where your expectations rest. Director Berlanti has crammed enough sub-plots into the storyline here to maintain the interest, but at a run time time of 132 minutes the film at times feels a little bloated and off-kilter. That said, its worth the price of your cinema ticket to catch a movie the likes of which don't come around too often anymore these days.

'Fly Me to the Moon' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-