Title – Fly Me to the Moon (2024) 

Director – Greg Berlanti (Life as We Know It) 

Cast – Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano

Plot – In the lead up to the Apollo 11 mission, NASA launch director Cole Davis (Tatum) must learn to live with recently hired marketing guru Kelly Jones (Johansson) who has been tasked with promoting the mission to the masses.   

“The last thing that we need around here is a black cat”

Review by Eddie on 11/12/2024

The film that’s caused Apple to do a rethink of its commitment to launch its original products into a wide release cinema run, with the upcoming George Clooney and Brad Pitt starring Wolfs the first victim of that strategy after a planned cinema takeover was scrapped, Fly Me to the Moon isn’t what you’d call an “horrifically bad” movie per se but it’s an incredibly bland one that never feels like the sum of its parts when weighed up against its talented cast and crew and substantial production budget. 

Gifted $100 million dollars of Apple’s seemingly endless pool of money that will likely be tightened on future products after the likes of this, Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon all under-performed from expectations, director Greg Berlanti and his audience favourite leads Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum certainly make Moon look the part and as usual famed cinematographer Dariusz Wolski ensures this is a visually appeasing offering that is unable to find its heart and soul anywhere else. 

Dragging along at over two hours in length, Moon never finds its feet as an historical dramatization, a romance or a comedy, with none of those various elements allowed to shine through Berlanti’s feature that feels as though it’s been designed as more of a progression of scenes, not a cohesive whole that is going to amount to anything more than a very minor distraction. 

With some more focus and reachable goals Moon might just have been one of 2024’s feel-good hits but you can sense the struggle with itself throughout as Johansson and Tatum try to not much avail as marketing guru Kelly Jones and stoic NASA launch director Cole Davis respectively as the two actors and characters act around the impending launch of Apollo 11 and try to navigate their own wants and desires surrounded by such a momentous moment in human history. 

With little in the way of memorable jokes, a pedestrian approach to an uninvolving budding romance and a bereft void of of dramatic tension, Moon was always going to face an uphill battle to convince audiences to get excited about it and after a lacklustre $40 million dollar run at the global box office, there’s little hope to suggest this stale and lifeless product is going to take off in the home viewing space. 

Final Say – 

There’s no wonder Apple is second guessing themselves if this is what $100+ million dollars is getting them with Fly Me to the Moon a lacking offering that does little in the way of justifying its price-tag or existence. 

2 black cats out of 5