鈥淔ly Me to the Moon鈥 takes too long to launch.
Attempting to show how the U.S. government may have hedged its bets before landing a man on the moon, the comedy also tackles monetizing the space program and a most unlikely romance.
Had this been made in the early 鈥70s, Doris Day and Rock Hudson might have been the stars.
Instead, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum are the opposites who ultimately attract.
She鈥檚 a hotshot public relations/marketing pro; he鈥檚 the mission flight coordinator.
Because elected officials are hesitant to throw money at the space program, they need to be coerced. That鈥檚 where Johannson鈥檚 Kelly Jones comes in. She markets everything from the watches astronauts wear to the powdered orange juice they drink. She鈥檚 good at schmoozing senators, too, and isn鈥檛 above helping a White House operative stage a moon landing in a hangar 鈥 just in case the real thing doesn鈥檛 come off.
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Tatum鈥檚 Cole Davis is in the dark about all this (of course) and has his own reasons to see a pristine program hit its mark. The idea that 鈥渆ntertainers鈥 would stage such an event is unthinkable.
Still, they carry on, determining how astronauts might walk, talk and react.
The concept is engaging but the conspiracy theory has been floated for years. Giving it credibility 鈥 even in a comedy 鈥 makes 鈥淔ly Me to the Moon鈥 difficult to embrace.
Johansson is perfect in her role (she would have been ideal in 鈥淢ad Men鈥) but Tatum tries too hard to suppress his emotions. Often, that makes him wooden and difficult to see as a match for the vivacious marketer.
For director Greg Berlanti, that stalls all sorts of lift-offs.
While 鈥淢oon鈥 borrows from other space stories (real and fictional), it doesn鈥檛 give the three Apollo 11 astronauts much screen time or offer a solid reason for landing a man on the moon. It鈥檚 more enamored with the extras and the way Johannson can march in and command attention as the program鈥檚 leader.
Because the 鈥渓et鈥檚 stage a moon landing鈥 idea is so wild, there are too many people in on the concept to keep it secret more than a day. Still, that White House operative (played by Woody Harrelson) keeps pushing. He OKs hiring a Hollywood director, casting Hollywood actors, and spending Hollywood bucks on replicating the surface of the moon.
How that would fly under the radar is one of those 鈥淥K, but鈥︹ elements that don鈥檛 work when Berlanti drags out the story just to include a romance. It really isn鈥檛 necessary, particularly when Ray Romano (as one of the NASA pros) is so deserving of more screen time.
A black cat provides mild amusement (emphasis on mild) but, like so many elements, serves to delay the space program鈥檚 most important moment. When it comes, we鈥檙e so tired of waiting we could walk, too, and feel like we didn't miss a thing.
