When Scarlett Johansson first read the script for Fly Me To The Moon it must have put a real smile on her face. In it, she gets all the good lines, gets all the laughs and ultimately gets to save the day. Oh, and she also gets her man. In this case, Cole Davis played by Magic Mike (Channing Tatum). Add some underhanded dealings by a shadow government operative named Moe Berkus played by a rubber-faced Woody Harrelson and you have all the ingredients for a cinematic good time.
Kelly Jones (Johansson) is a marketing and promotional genius from the Big Apple who plays fast and loose with the truth and is perfect for the job. After the tragic loss of the three astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee in a fire that happened during a training exercise, the race to the moon is lagging in popularity and it is Jones who is coerced into helping with lifting those sagging numbers.
She runs headlong in the the conservative ways of Launch Director Davis and most of the fireworks come from their emerging relationship. Watching these two movie stars riff off each other while being driven by a script that gives them plenty of ammunition is a joy to behold. As things progress you discover they both are harbouring events from their past that they need to overcome on their way to being happy.
When government man Berkus comes up with the crackpot idea of filming a fake version of the moon landing in case the actual one goes astray, it provides the circumstance for that moment of truth between the two main protagonists. For a space geek like myself, watching this generation’s version of His Girl Friday (the 1940 Howard Hawks screwball comedy) set during the race to the moon pays extra dividends. It’s also great to see the continuation of strong scripts written where women are the ones who get to swoop in and save the day.
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