Fly Me To The Moon

Fly Me To The Moon is the latest film from Greg Berlanti, the WGA, DGA and Golden Globe nominated writer, director, and producer. He is also the force behind several of the most inventive and acclaimed works of film and television and is the mastermind behind the superhero-verse of hit TV shows like The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Doom Patrol and Riverdale (the Archie  series), to name a few. Berlanti brilliantly captures the nostalgia and innocence of the 60’s and that one awe-inspiring moment in time when all the world watched as the United States made history by putting a man on the moon. He also manages the difficult task of striking the perfect balance between comedy and drama, as Fly Me To The Moon is both touching and hilarious. 

The films out-of-this-world cast includes, Channing Tatum (“Magic Mike”), Scarlet Johansson (“Avenger’s” films), Ray Romano (“Everybody Loves Raymond”), and Woody Harrelson (“True Detective”). Tatum plays the stoic, no-nonsense Nasa Launch Director and Johansson plays a top-of-her-game advertising pitch woman who is enlisted by Harrelson to sell the world on the newest batch of astronauts to bring in some much needed bucks to the Nasa Space Program. Omega watches, Tang and even Kellogg’s cereal are all in her sights. Harrelson plays an unscrupulous  government agent who is pulling the puppet strings to make sure his cast of characters can simulate the moon landing in case something goes wrong with the real mission to beat the Russians to the moon. 

Harrelson once again delivers a pitch perfect performance, bringing his spry wink and a nod, I’m your best buddy, but you don’t want to cross me, because I’m a really a bad guy, esthetic. Another brilliant on-point performance from Harrelson. Actor Jim Rath (“Community”) is perfectly cast as the over the top director of the greatest film never shown.  Rath is a commercial director and client of Johansson’s and is hired for the project over the iconic award-winning director, Stanley Kubrick, (“2001: A Space Odyssey”), which in itself, is hilarious. Even Colin Jost, (Johansson’s real-life husband and “Weekend Update” anchor from “Saturday Night Live”), makes a hilarious cameo as a senator being sold on the space program.

The romantic chemistry between Tatum and Johansson is unmistakable and at times is both touching and heart-breaking as there is a lot at stake for both their mission and their romance. They also both have the comedy chops to make the humor laugh out loud funny! The screenplay by Rose Gilroy (“The Pack”) is both smart and comedic and even though there are plenty of laughs, they are all grounded (pun intended) and organic and always comes from a place of truth from both the actors and the dialogue, and not from some schticky, gimmicky, joke, just to get a laugh. I hate Schticky, gimmicky, comedies. This film is the real deal.

Fly Me To The Moon is an instant classic and I urge everyone to run to the local theater as soon as possible to see it on the big screen. When the Apollo 11 rocket finally lifts off and you see and hear the rumble of the thousands of pounds of explosive thrust as it lifts off the launch pad, you can almost feel the heat. I’m not the most emotional person in the world, but at that miraculous moment, I almost cried, as all the hard work, training and commitment by both the astronauts and the scientists has finally come to fruition. Berlanti makes us instantly feel the heroism, excitement and sheer danger of it all. To imagine the  level of technology in 1969 that our scientists were able to achieve that long ago, to send a rocket to another planet, land, and have men walk on its surface, is still mind-blowing to me. I’ve seen a lot of terrific movies lately, but Fly Me To The Moon is on my must-see list. So blast-off and see it. 3-2-1-go!

Jeff Rector is an award-winning writer, director, producer, working actor and best-selling author.

All images and videos are courtesy of Apple TV+.