Fly Me to the Moon is a romantic comedy-drama directed by Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon) set during the Space Race in the years prior to Apollo 11. It features a powerhouse cast spearheaded by the great chemistry between Scarlett Johannson and Channing Tatum, with support from a scenery-chewing Woody Harrelson and the delightful Jim Rash.

 

Cole Davis (Tatum) is the flight director at NASA during a pivotal period of the Space Race, and at a time when public interest and political support for NASA has declined precipitously. Moe Berkus (Harrelson) is a man-in-black who works for the administration of Richard Nixon who headhunts the advertising talents of the marketing genius Kelly Jones (Johansson).

 

He scuppers her hard won deal with a key player of the American Auto Industry, and commiserates by offering her the job of turning around the perception of NASA in the hearts and minds of the Americans public and their politicians. Unfortunately for her, standing in her way is Cole Davis, a man so passionate about the work of getting to Space that he has no concept of what is required to keep NASA running.

 

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum are both excellent, their chemistry transcends their character’s conflicts and both bring their skills in comedy to the film. This all serves to provide Fly Me to the Moon with a compelling central relationship and helps heavily to gel the two ideas of rom-com and Space Race together, which almost entirely succeeds, but for the ultimate fact that the story is much bigger than Kelly and Cole’s relationship.

 

Fly Me to the Moon is a feel good rom-com in the unlikely setting of the US Apollo Space missions that enjoys excellent chemistry between its leads Scarlett Johannson and Channing Tatum.