Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

Greg Berlanti: Fly Me to the Moon (US/GB 2024) with Scarlett Johansson (Kelly Jones), Channing Tatum (Cole Davis).

Centenary of Columbia Pictures.

Fly Me to the Moon [Finland] / Fly Me to the Moon [Sweden]

    US/GB © 2024 Apple Video Programming. PC: Apple Studios, These Pictures. P: Keenan Flynn, Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Lia, Sarah Schechter. EX: Robert J. Dohrmann.

    D: Greg Berlanti. SC: Rose Gilroy (screenplay) - Keenan Flynn (story) & Bill Kirstein (story). DP: Dariusz Wolski - Arriraw 4.5K - intermediate: 4K - release: 4K DCP - colour - 2.39:1. PD: Shane Valentino. AD: Lauren Rosenbloom. Set dec: Susan Benjamin, Laura Wallgren. Cost: Mary Zophres. Makeup: Deborah La Mia Denaver. Hair: Lawrence Davis. VFX: RISE Visual Effects Studios, Framestore, Nexodus, Zero VFX, Halon Entertainment, Ingenuity Studio, Good Company, Company 3. SFX: Wayne Rowe. M: Daniel Pemberton. S: Laurent Kossayan. ED: Harry Jierjian. Casting: Ellen Lewis. Special thanks to: Buzz Aldrin, John Tynan.

    C: Scarlett Johansson (Kelly Jones), Channing Tatum (Cole Davis), Woody Harrelson (Moe Berkus), Ray Berkus (Woody Harrelson), Ray Romano (Henry Smalls), Jim Rash (Lance Vespertine), Anna Garcia (Ruby Martin).

    Loc: Cape Canaveral (Florida), Savannah (Georgia), Tybee Island (Georgia), Fort Pulaski (Georgia).

    Soundtrack: "These Foolish Things" perf. Sam Cooke ; "Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)" perf. Bobby Womack ; "Hold On I'm Coming" perf. Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown ; "Security" perf. Etta James ; "It's Your Thing" perf. Ann Peebles ; "To Love Somebody" perf. The Bee Gees ; "Sweet Soul Music" perf. Arthur Conley; "Nothing Can Change This Love" perf. Sam Cooke ; "Destination Moon" perf. Dinah Washington.

    132 min

    Festival premiere: 3 July 2024 Brussels International Film Festival

    US premiere: 12 July 2024

    Finnish premiere: 12 July 2024, released by SF Studios, Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Saliven Gustavson.

    Viewed at Finnkino Kinopalatsi 20, 10 Aug 2024.

Tagline: "Will they make history... or fake it?"

Official synopsis: "Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, FLY ME TO THE MOON is a sharp, stylish romantic comedy set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’s (Tatum) already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up and the countdown truly begins…"

AA: Fly Me to the Moon is a romantic comedy directed by Greg Berlanti based on a screenplay by Rose Gilroy and a story by Keenan Flynn and Bill Kirstein. It is a Scarlett Johansson vehicle.

The theatrical distributor is Columbia Pictures in the United States and Sony Pictures Releasing worldwide. Since 1989, Columbia Pictures has belonged to the Japanese electronics giant Sony.

In celebration of the centenary of Columbia Pictures, the film begins with a montage of its logo changing during history: Lady Columbia, the personification of the Americas and the United States, in reference to Christopher Columbus, the -ia ending connecting it with Britannia and Gallia.

During Hollywood's Golden Age, Columbia Pictures was one of the "Little Three" among the eight majors. Now it is one of the Big Five.

During the Great Depression, Columbia was a pioneer of the rapid-fire "screwball comedy". Its main house director was Frank Capra. Also Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey and George Cukor did great work there. Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell were among Columbia's comedy queens in the 1930s. The comedies were not just divertissements. They were also vehices of satire, sometimes of the savage and disturbing kind.

After WWII, another Columbia comedy star was born: Judy Holliday, guided by Cukor. Jean Arthur ended her contract because of sexual harassment by the studio boss Harry Cohn. Marilyn Monroe made a single appearance, her first major role (Ladies of the Chorus), but quit for the same reason.

...

I write the above to make sense of the reasons to be cheerful for Fly Me to the Moon, because I'm all smiles.

To start with the Lady Columbia logo: Fly Me to the Moon is a great satire about America. The one with a healthy identity and self-respect can stand criticism and laugh at oneself.

It is a Cold War and Space Age satire. America is losing the Vietnam War, and the disgrace is for all to see on live tv. Russia is leading the Space Age, and America's Apollo program is in trouble.

The serious and true blue foundation is the commitment, scientific expertise, hard work and team spirit of the Apollo Program. Not forgetting a reverence for three martyrs who died in the fire during the launch pad test of Apollo 1 in 1967.

The embodiment of the Apollo spirit is Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), a responsible leader who earns his authority by inner dignity without needing to assert himself.

The Nixon administration hires a marketing maven, Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), to promote the Apollo Program to the max to ensure a bigger budget and lucrative sponsorship deals. Truth is a flexible concept for Jones, and she is a master of finding an excuse for anything.

Opposites attract - or more accurately: extremes attract. It is love at first sight between Cole and Kelly before they know each other. It is hate at first sight when Cole realizes Kelly's game. They reconcile, but Kelly is hiding from Cole the biggest betrayal. 

The Nixon administration does not believe in the Apollo 11 program, and they hire a film production crew and a soundstage to fake the Moon landing for the live television broadcast. Against direct orders, Kelly arranges the true live broadcast anyway and feeds Neil Armstrong the line "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

Fly Me to the Moon is a Scarlett Johansson vehicle, and she is a perfect Lady Columbia. Running in my mind a montage of classic Columbia comediennes, I recognize that she is as radiant and brilliant as any of them, and a versatile and original genius in her own right.

As a Marilynologist, I sense, like in Asteroid City (another Space Age and Nuclear Age satire), that Johansson is, among other things, channeling Marilyn. There is a link between wit and sex. Sex is beautiful when it is innate and life-affirming. Johansson is wickedly aware of her assets. Like in classic Hollywood, there is no need to be explicit.

There is an extreme contrast between the rock solid Cole and the volatile and mercurial Kelly. Almost cosmic. But perhaps it takes Kelly to pull Cole from his single-minded work orientation. And perhaps it takes Cole to stop Kelly from getting lost in her fabrications.

It is a great screenplay, and the film is well made but not brilliant as a whole. Perhaps marrying serious space drama (worthy of The Right Stuff) and screwball comedy requires so much time that momentum suffers. The soundstage stuff is funny, but I would remove it except for the climax only. Still, the film is better than one could expect from the impossible combination.

Might Fly Me to the Moon be another victim for the Pandemic Lethargic syndrome?

No danger of lethargy on the fantastic compilation soundtrack, with generous helpings of 1960s Atlantic and Motown, and "To Love Somebody" by The Bee Gees in the romantic turning point. Timeless.

I look forward to revisiting Fly Me to the Moon.