“Change of plans. Now that we know the whole world will be watching, we need a backup plan.”
I went into Fly Me To The Moon expecting something like Capricorn One, and I ended up seeing a film that reminded me more of Wag The Dog. The Woody Harrelson role might have been the clincher here. The change was actually a fortuitous one, and in spite of my relative loathing for rom-com syrup, I ended up having a pretty good time and liking the sleeper film more than I had any right to expect. It’s not perfect, and I don’t expect that it will climb on anyone’s classic lists in the next decade or so. But the mishmash film presentation ends up having a pretty wide appeal, and you could do worse than spend a couple of hours here amid what’s been an overall rather disappointing slate of films for 2024. There’s a little something for everyone here. You have the requisite rom-com essentials, pieces of a rather nice political thriller, and a trip down memory lane for all of us who are old enough to remember that hot summer day in 1969 when everything changed. At least they did for a certain 8-year-old. But what if there had been a contingency plan?
“This is what happens when you work for Richard Nixon.”
Kelly Jones (Johansson) is a con artist. After years of running from the law, she found a job where being a con artist is actually legal and quite lucrative. Of course, I’m talking about Madison Avenue, where the clever marketing campaigns seduce us into buying everything from cars to breakfast cereal. She’s so good at her job that she gets approached by a mysterious Washington operative who goes by the name of Mo (Harrelson). It’s 1969, and NASA has had more than their fair share of setbacks. From the Apollo 1 fatal fire to a lingering war in Vietnam, there just isn’t enough interest in going to the moon, and we only have a year left to deliver on JFK’s edict to land a man on the moon before the decade is out. And no, this isn’t the place to start arguing about when a decade or even a millennium starts (or ends). They need a super salesperson to get the spigots from Congress flowing again, and she gets pretty much a blank check to get the job done.
Enter the flight director Cole Davis (Tatum). He’s not so happy to have this lady breeze into town and turn his beloved program into a circus act. She sets up endorsement deals. Hey, who didn’t drink Tang at the time because it’s what the astronauts drank on the moon? If it was good enough for Armstrong and his boys, it was good enough for a growing 8-year-old, yeah? Cole believes she’s taking away the dignity of the program, but it works. People are getting excited, and the money is rolling back in once again. This is a good thing, right? Maybe.
Now that America (and the world) are paying attention, the government can’t afford another disaster live on national television. So Mo returns to congratulate Kelly on her success, but now she has just one more job to do before she can walk away with her criminal past erased. The moon landing has to go perfectly, and the only way to make sure that it does is to fake it. He wants her to build a set and shoot the events that may or may not be happening on the moon in a controlled environment where everything can go off without a hitch. It’s just a backup. A contingency in case something goes wrong, until it isn’t. Soon Mo decides we’re going to use the fake footage even if the mission goes well. He has the camera disabled so that the only footage getting to the networks is the fake stuff. Of course, she and Cole start to fall for each other, and now she’s betraying him in a big way. Time to check off those rom-com essentials:
- Come clean
- Try to walk away from each other
- Redemption story
- Boy gets the girl or girl gets the boy. Either way works.
The truly missing element here is that there really isn’t any chemistry between Scarlet Johansson and Channing Tatum. Tatum is simply miscast here, and it does hurt the film throughout. He’s stiff, and there just isn’t any kind of genuine emotional moment in his performance. He’s a Weekend At Bernie’s companion stiff here. And frankly Terry Kiser’s performance as the dead Bernie was far more …d are I say it … lively? Fortunately, I don’t care about the relationship but you romantic suckers in the audience will likely be let down. Johannson is the scene stealer, and it’s a wonderful breakaway from the Black Widow stuff, and her energy kind of makes up for Tatum’s lack thereof. Of course Woody Harrelson is perfect as the government spook. This guy is a chameleon, but more important, there’s an intensity he brings to parts with what appears to be no effort at all. He makes it look easy. And he has more chemistry with Johannson than Tatum ever hopes to have. Ray Romano is quite good as Cole’s deputy flight director. Again a lot of effortless energy here, and I think that’s the issue with Tatum. It’s not so much that he has no energy (OK, it kind of is), but there are so many bright lights around him that he’s truly snowed under in the film. I don’t blame him. It was just a bad casting move.
The idea isn’t so far-fetched, and Nixon was indeed worried about a failure. There’s a book out there called Almost History that includes small things that literally were almost history. Included in that book is the backup speech Nixon had prepared to deliver in the event of catastrophic failure. It’s worth checking out if you can find it.
“That’s one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind.”
Armstrong insisted until his dying day that the (a) was actually what he said. It doesn’t matter, but it’s that moment that makes this movie something a little bit special. For me the best part of the film is how much they captured the era and more importantly the sense of awe and wonder those days had for me. There were so many scenes that just put me right back in my small living room watching the landing live on our small black and white television. It was a special time for me, and I’ll admit that feeling plays a huge part in why I like this film. It’s often quite silly, but there is still that reverence for that event. “That felt very real.”
