think the movie whereScarlett Johansson playedthis incredibly confident badass who did accents to become unlike characters and accept a super - secret government job for wipe her mysterious record clean and jerk ? Yes , that’sthe plot ofBlack Widow — but it ’s also , unbelievably , the plot ofFly Me to the Moon , a romanticist comedy posing as a undercover agent movie posing as a thriller posing as an aspirational drama , all at the same time . It has no mind what it want to be or say , so that it spatter some Marvel in there too is as consistent as anything else .
InFly Me to the Moon , Johansson plays Kelly Jones , a brilliant merchandising and public relative administrator hired by the U.S. political science to make NASA , and the outer space race , interesting to the public . There she meets Cole Davis , played by Channing Tatum . He ’s the sweetest , shyest Boy Scout of a genius rocket scientist who ever live and that the movie ever for a single second makes it seem like these two should n’t or would n’t be together is just the first of many , many issues .
Kelly is very just at her chore and quickly turns the upcoming Apollo 11 missionary post to the moonlight into a globular event . The fate of a nation is ride on its success so just to be good , the politics ( body by a cryptic Woody Harrelson character ) decide to at the same time film a fake moon landing in sheath the real one does n’t work . Kelly is against this , in part because it designate so little faith in Cole and his team , but does it in unavowed anyway .
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum star in Fly Me to the Moon. Image: Sony Pictures
Directed by Greg Berlanti ( yes , that Greg Berlanti ) from a hand by Rose Gilroy , Fly Me to the Moonis too challenging for its own goodness . At its mettle , it wants to focus on the blossom love story between Cole and Kelly while also making them full , rotund type . But there ’s also the turmoil around Kelly ’s merchandising of NASA . There ’s the intrigue and mystery behind the fake Moon landing . There ’s a pertinacious political slant . A socially conscious , anti - war throughline . And always a perpetual question about Kelly ’s past times which maintain being teased . Then , of row , there ’s the actual launching of Apollo 11 and the moon landing , all of which is happening at the same time . Each story has a different shade and attitude and Berlanti ca n’t for the life history of himself fuse together . Oh , and if I told you one of the characters was also an accouterment to execution would that surprise you ? Because it should n’t !
The resultant role is a motion picture that feels like a see - power saw , perpetually move from one extreme to the other . In one moment , it ’ll provide a meek chortle . In the next , we ’ll see a supposedly exciting and rousing split - blind montage . That ’ll be followed by a poignant dramatic reveal , then a cunning romantic interlude , and on and on . Johansson ’s character is the only one who sort of fits here , because to become as successful as she is , Kelly constantly has to adapt to every situation . Tatum ’s character , however , is out of place almost every clock time .
We ’re used to see the role player as a clown so to see him puke as the smart adult male in the way already comes with its portion of challenge . Unfortunately , the hand rarely meets those by giving him tools to show that off with self-confidence or authority . As a resolution , it ’s hard to relate with him and to recompense , Cole is often on projection screen with much simpler , one - note character diddle by the likes of Ray Romano , to humanize him and the grouping to the audience .
Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) in FLY ME TO THE MOON. – Sony Pictures
And while this mishmash of tones , elan , and performance go into each other over and over , there are occasionally , almost by default , moments of brilliance . A recurring game point with a black cat pay off in an incredibly satisfying and surprising elbow room . Jim Rash as fake moon landing place manager Lance Vespertine is receive more playfulness than anyone else in the film and the sequences of the rocket launches are fantastically beautiful .
Nevertheless , Fly Me to the Moonis an downright mass . That it shares a hint of DNA withBlack Widowbesides the phrase “ star Scarlett Johansson ” is the first clue something is not quite right . And by the end , while things do terminate up right for the characters , it ’s not the same for the audience . We ’re bequeath scratching our heads about the inviolable madness we just witnessed and what the heck it was all trying to say .
vaporize Me to the Moonopens July 12 .
Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) and Henry Smalls (Ray Romano) in FLY ME TO THE MOON. – Sony Pictures
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