‘Fly Me To The Moon’: A Fresh Rom-Com Setting and a Cheeky Take on the Space Race

When we say we need more rom-coms, we don’t just mean the usual formulaic ones. The sky is the limit for hitherto unexplored settings, and Greg Berlanti’s Fly Me to the Moon, starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, accepts that mission and takes us to space!

Well, not to space per se, but to NASA. The days leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to land man on the Moon becomes the launchpad for a romance between the mission’s project manager, Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), and smooth-talking ad woman Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), brought in to make space great again by one of President Nixon’s fixer-uppers, Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson).

But no mission is without its glitches and failures, and that’s where Fly Me to the Moon also becomes a cheeky take on the conspiracy theory that the Moon landing was fake, and the video of astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the Moon’s surface was actually shot in a studio on Earth. This puts the earnest Cole and the saleswoman Kelly on opposite sides of what’s right and what’s easy.

Right off the bat, Fly Me to the Moon works as a cheeky, screwball comedy first, and a romance second, so you may need to manage your expectations. I went in to have a good time, and the film did show me one. A major NASA mission workforce gets compacted into a small band of supporting characters that turn the whole thing into a cutesy workplace romance set to a ’60s pastel color palette that doesn’t fail to entertain.

There’s loads to make you laugh here, and the film adds just the right amount of political context and clever jabs to not overpower it and morph it into something else entirely. And Cole Davis’ guilt and regret over the loss of lives on the previous mission ground the film with stakes.

In the film’s second half, Greg Berlanti manages to induce the thrill and euphoria that would accompany the final moments of the Moon landing mission and the suspense built around trying to figure fact from fiction.

But there’s a lot to be desired in terms of the romance part, because the story keeps the two leads majorly apart except for a few scenes that do leaving you wishing there was more. Like most films that cater to space missions, this film too gets a bit preoccupied with the demands of telling that story. The result isn’t necessarily a bad one, but it’s a whole “Jack of all trades, master of none” kind of a situation.

Scarlett Johansson makes her Kelly Jones—an ad woman with a shady past who uses her pretty privilege to get her way in a male-dominated world—seem endearing and aspirational, and not some manic-pixie career gal who could get annoying after a while. Like a bright-colored antidote to the stylish but doomed Don Draper, if you will, she’s a total scene stealer and leads the film well. I love to see her do the kind of heavy lifting that’s usually saved for the male leads.

There was news that Chris Evans was supposed to play Cole Davis, and Marvel fans might be missing the Evans and Johansson pairing. But Channing Tatum actually brings a certain soldier-like measured earnestness to his Cole Davis, a man haunted by his failure on Apollo 10 and determined to get it right this time. He’s the perfect counter to Johansson’s extroverted salesperson, who doesn’t mind twisting a few truths to get her way. Watching Johansson play a flirt and make Tatum blush is a bonus. After Lost City (2022), I am convinced we need him to do more rom-coms.

The supporting cast includes Ray Romano (playing a lovable Henry Smalls), Noah Robbins, and Donald Elise Watkins playing the men on the project task force, and Anna Garcia as Kelly’s friend/assistant and occasional voice of conscience. The most fun to watch, however, is Jim Rash as genius, tantrum-throwing filmmaker Lance Vespertine, who is tasked with shooting the Moon landing. He brings on the Hollywood drama, holding your attention in every scene he’s in and making you cackle! Keep an eye out for an interesting cameo that’s bound to make you smile!

Fly Me to the Moon, then, is a sweet and funny workplace comedy that offers a fresh setting for a romance. Unlike its premise, the film itself is okay not aiming for the Moon, and ends up making for a perfectly adequate feel-good caper.