Moon-Eyed

This past Saturday was the 55th anniversary of Apollo 11's first crewed landing on the moon. And while I didn't plan it, I ended up "observing" the occasion in a cute way, by going to the theater to see the new movie Fly Me to the Moon.

The movie is the fictional story of Kelly Jones, shrewd advertising powerhouse, who takes up the job of marketing the moonshot on a distracted and somewhat skeptical public. She clashes professionally and romantically with Cole Davis, leader of the launch program. As her efforts work to raise NASA's profile and the already-high stakes of the mission, a shady government operator arrives with an ultimatum: she must ready a backup staged moon landing in case the actual Apollo 11 is unable to pull off the seemingly impossible.

I'm a sucker for all things, fiction and non-fiction, having to do with the space race era. So I'm stipulating right up front: I'm certain I liked this movie more than the average audience member would. Having thus eroded my credibility, let me try to convince you that Fly Me to the Moon is still a light and enjoyable movie that I think deserves a wider audience than it's found so far.

If you enjoyed the TV series Mad Men -- or wanted to, but found Don Draper too unlikable a protagonist -- this movie may well be for you. Kelly Jones is the smartest person in any room, and I think most people enjoy characters like that (at least, when they aren't too smug). At the same time, Kelly is a fun "mess" of a character in a way laboratory-engineered for rom-com effervescence. Scarlett Johansson is the perfect performer for this, and this movie reminds us all that she had a nimble wit long before MCU movies focused on her nimble physicality.

An effective rom-com requires two leads, of course, and Channing Tatum is a perfect foil. His Boy Scout of a character is cast in the classic "opposites attract" mold, and its fun to see Tatum's charisma in a slightly different gear than his often "bad boy" screen roles.

The script feels more clever to me than most rom-com fare, because there's a framework here for why the opposites attract. Here, the two people are both deeply committed to the same cause (in their own ways, for their own reasons). You still get the meet-cute, the softening, the hidden secret leading to the betrayal... all the stations of the rom-com cross. But the story doesn't have to contrive a reason for the opposites to continue interacting, doesn't have to justify what they ultimately see in each other... none of those more outlandish elements of a rom-com, because they're both committed to the larger cause of the moon landing.

That frees things up for more zaniness at the margins. The shenanigans of staging a fake moon landing are quite funny, and a number of great secondary characters (with fun performances) figure into this part of the plot. Woody Harrelson is a marvelous weasel as the government agent pulling the strings. Jim Rash chews the scenery as the temperamental director called upon to create the ruse. Donald Elise Watkins and Noah Robbins are a great comic pair of engineers working on the Apollo program, and veteran "that guy" Christian Clemenson plays a fun press agent / tour guide who pops in and out throughout the film.

Do you need to go see this in a movie theater? No... but ordinarily I might argue yes... but this time I'm still going to say no. Huh?

So, this summer has been marked by several movies expected to stir up box office, but which have underperformed. Many have seized upon this to argue, "you say you want Hollywood to make more movies like this, but then if you don't go see them, they're not going to keep doing it." Fly Me to the Moon feels like one of those movies -- a light bit of fun that deserves support.

On the other hand, the movie was picked up for distribution by Apple TV+, who originally did not intend it for a theatrical release. They were going to just drop it directly on their platform for streaming, until some early test screenings suggested that the ScarJo/Tatum pairing and moonshot storyline meant they had a "four-quadrant hit" on their hands. Since this theatrical run was never part of "the plan," one would hope that an underwhelming box office wouldn't really effect whether Apple TV+ backs such movies in the future; it's ultimately the number of streams that'll matter more... right?

So I guess, watch this movie in whatever format works better for you. (I'm sure it will be streamable soon enough.) Whatever that is, I say watch this movie. I found it a pleasant escape, a strong B+.