With conspiracy theories ablaze these days, you may hear some claim that America faked the moon landing in 1969. In “Fly Me To The Moon,” Woody Harrelson plays Moe Berkus, who wants to make sure President Richard Nixon looks good so he hires Kelly Jones (a luminous Scarlett Johansson) to produce a believable fake moon landing that could be used if there were problems with the real landing.
With her sass and good looks, Kelly can get virtually any man to do what she wants, and when she meets Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), the Apollo program’s launch director at a diner, he is quickly smitten with her. They meet again when her job is to make NASA marketable at a time when some see big spending as a waste of money and Senate approval is needed. While Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong don’t say much, they agree to pose in front of red mustangs and advertise fancy watches so NASA can make some money.
Directed by Greg Berlanti, you get the feeling you are in 1969. The kiss between Kelly and Cole is sweet and PG. While Tatum is strong in some moments where he is managing the mission to the moon, he doesn’t show the right chemistry needed in romantic scenes with Johansson. Perhaps Tatum believed that his character was supposed to be a guy so focused on work that he was shy with women, but with his good looks, you can’t help but scream at the screen: “Come on, man!” The movie has the sleek mid-century modern feel of AMC’s hit series “Mad Men” and Johansson is stellar in the opening of the film, when she has to convince three men who don’t take her seriously that she actually knows her stuff.
Ray Romano has some funny moments as the deputy director, Henry Smalls. In one of the most tension-filled scenes, when a journalist (Jewish actor Peter Jacobson) presses Cole on the failure of a previous mission when Cole only expected softball questions and nearly beats the daylights out of him, leaving Kelly to have to do damage control.
One of the many fine supporting performances is by Gene Jones (whose life was saved by a coin toss in “No Country for Old Men”) who plays Senator Hopp, who doesn’t want to fund the mission but is charmed by Kelly. Johansson’s real-life husband, Colin Jost, has a small role as an unimpressed Senator.
We take it for granted in 2024 how amazing the moon landing felt in 1969.
We take it for granted in 2024 how amazing the moon landing felt in 1969, fulfilling the promise of President Kennedy. While some might be worried the film will serve to remind people that governments lie (the twist in the film is fictional, although some in tin foil hats still believe Jewish director Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing) most will be entertained by the film, largely due to Johansson’s out-of-this-world charisma.
Kelly gives Armstrong some possible things to say when he makes his first step on the moon, but he comes up with the iconic “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Harrelson, as always, is hilarious as a hectoring pest with a nefarious smile.
“Fly Me to The Moon” takes some small steps forward and is worth seeing and long as you won’t be heartbroken that Tatum doesn’t bring Cupid to the love party.
