THE PREMISE:

"Marketing maven Kelly Jones wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis's already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, the countdown truly begins." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

I’ll be honest, as the film Fly Me to the Moon started, I was instantly annoyed by how the film chose to open; a weird newspaper montage covering America’s historical events over the 60s including the Kennedy assassination, the US’s involvement in Vietnam, Cold War tensions, and the disastrous Apollo 1 incident. It’s a weird rough start, and it’s introduction to our two main characters played by Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson starts off a little awkward, and not in the good sense. However, despite the film struggling to gain its footing from the start, Fly Me to the Moon actually becomes quite charming and smart. 

Director Greg Berlanti, following up Love, Simon, is perhaps the weakest force behind the camera, sad to say. Though it’s edited very well, and looks amazing, Berlanti’s blocking feels awkward and stilted which ultimately results in a form that just feels half-baked and unrealized. However, everything else behind the camera really enhances the film, especially the jazzy tunes from Daniel Pemburton who wrote the film’s score. Harry Jierjan’s editing is really a wonder though. At points, the film does feel too long, however, Jierjan is able to really thread some interesting ideas in Berlanti’s images which thankfully allows the 2 hour-plus runtime to run pretty smoothly. 

Outside of Johansson and Tatum’s performances, you also get a great handful of excellent supporting performances including Ray Romano and Jim Rash who deliver my favorite performances in the movie. As the cast finally comes together and finds ways to compliment and play off of each other with ease, it becomes a really extravagant time with the whole company. 

However, we must talk about Rose Gilroy’s script. Though not exactly the smoothest structure, Gilroy manages to write something that’s all sweet, charming, smart, but also sad. She reflects on this period in American history and wonders, was this the last time America had a win? And if it is, is it a win that really matters in the grand scheme of things? We raced to the moon in the name of capitalism against communists while we were in a war that we shouldn’t have been in in the first place. And even if we had not landed on it, could the US government convince the people we even did? While Fly Me to the Moon lands as a great summer Rom-Com, the film leaves you more to chew on considering and contemplating what we know as The American Achievement.