There's a charming romantic caper somewhere inside Fly Me to the Moon. But its bloat, predictability and constant reminders of the importance of winning the Space Race keep smothering it.
On paper, this movie has all the ingredients for a raging success. It's got two of the most attractive and charming movie stars we have. It's got a clever concept. It's got stellar production design, costumes and cinematography. And it's got a dynamite supporting cast, many of which are new(ish) faces. But it's so loose that the new obstacles its characters face never feel organic, nor do their setbacks ever feel more than one brief scene away from resolution. But it's still hard not to root for a movie this delightful.
Recruited by a mysterious government operative (Woody Harrelson) to perk up NASA's sagging public image, Scarlett Johansson plays Kelly, an ad exec with a knack for stretching the truth. Of course she bumps heads with Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), the by-the-book launch director. And of course they share a spark that they'll try to ignore until they can't anymore. All of Kelly's lies, half-truths and charades secures NASA more funding and excitement. But when the government demands she covertly film a staged moon landing in case Apollo 11's mission fails, her commitment to her con starts weighing on her conscience.
This is another case of a movie whose "big problem" has a simple solution, but the movie has to drag it out as long as possible. This means a lot of double crosses, broken hearts and subterfuge. Executed properly, this could be a lot of fun. But there are so many of these little bits that it adds up to more than an hour of the runtime. Much of its innate charm and goodwill gets whittled down the longer it goes on.
Yet I can't completely dismiss this movie. It's an old-school crowd-pleaser that's well-acted and features believable co-worker relationships. There's an undeniable energy to it, even if it's hampered at times. At more than two hours, Fly Me to the Moon gets off the ground. But it could have used a little more fine-tuning to truly soar.
