Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

[tv echo]

In theaters July 12...

FLY ME TO THE MOON - Official Trailer (HD)
Sony Pictures Entertainment   Apr 8, 2024

‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Review: A Rocket’s Red Glare Gives Proof to Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’s Screen Chemistry
Originally intended for streaming, Greg Berlanti's Apollo 11 crowd-pleaser is the rare 21st-century rom-com to boast the brains and heart to support repeat viewing.
By Peter Debruge   Jul 6, 2024
https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/fly-me-to-the-moon-review-scarlett-johansson-channing-tatum-1236061592/ 

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Trailers make “Fly Me to the Moon” look cute at best, when in fact it’s quite clever: a smarter-than-it-sounds, space-age sparring match of the Rock Hudson/Doris Day variety, in which the honest-to-a-fault NASA launch director responsible for sending Apollo 11 into orbit (a straight-faced Channing Tatum) goes head-to-head with a mendacious Madison Avenue spin doctor (Scarlett Johansson, delightfully wily). Set during the first half of 1969, director Greg Berlanti’s high-concept screwball comedy values chemistry over history, bending the facts to suggest a fresh set of stakes for the operation, where romance fuels a rocket to the moon.
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He’s an idealist who just doesn’t get it, as Moe later makes clear. The space race is only nominally about scientific achievement. To the folks at the top, it’s really about ideology, and the movie makes that point without coming off cynical. Berlanti’s an accomplished small-screen talent who brings a populist, Ron Howard-like sensibility to the assignment — more “Quiz Show” than “Apollo 13,” as he takes a nostalgic (if somewhat budget-constrained) look at a time when the country willingly accepted what they saw on TV.

Edited July 7 by tv echo

[Shannon L.]

I'm going to try to see this this weekend.  I love the premise and the stars.  Early critics reviews on Rotten Tomatoes has it at 71%.  Hopefully, there are some audience reviews before I go, because if they're bad, I might just wait until it goes to streaming. 

[tv echo]

Down From Record 15 Series To 6 On Air, Greg Berlanti Talks Peak TV Demise, Strikes, Scooby-Doo & That Scarlett Johansson-Channing Tatum Chemistry In ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ – The Deadline Q&A
By Mike Fleming Jr   July 9, 2024
https://deadline.com/2024/07/greg-berlanti-ponders-peak-tv-strikes-scooby-doo-scarlett-johansson-and-channing-tatum-chemistry-in-fly-me-to-the-moon-1236005236/ 

Quote

Apple Original Films originally intended Berlanti’s new film to go straight to streaming on Apple TV+. Strong test scores that indicated test audiences responded to the period premise and throwback chemistry between Johannson and Tatum prompted bringing in Sony to mastermind a theatrical detour that begins Friday.
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DEADLINE: An odd starting point, but I gotta ask. Everybody you see in the Cape Canaveral control room in your film wears white shirts and black ties, as you would expect in a 1969 NASA space launch movie. Except for Channing Tatum’s Cole Davis, who stands out in these bright blue and yellow polo shirts. Did you fear we might otherwise lose him in that crowd of egghead scientists?

GREG BERLANTI: Why did I have him dress that way? A little bit of his backstory is inspired by a man named Deke Slayton, who oversaw the astronauts and when he was younger, he had had a problem with his heart and overcame it to actually participate in the program. When you watch the Apollo 11 doc and any of the footage that we were lucky enough to get hold of, something like 10,000 hours of it is still unseen, he just is so pronounced. He stands out. That was a large part of the inspiration, and  in part somewhat for his backstory, and also from Mary Zophres’ wardrobe design allowed him to pop in that way. He was a figurehead amongst those guys, and dressed with that same flair and style. With each one of the characters, we tried to use some NASA touchstone.

DEADLINE: The pairing of Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum has been likened to famous throwback two-handers like the films that Doris Day and Rock Hudson. How did you get them, and what did you see that might make a good chemical match?

BERLANTI: Scarlett was developing the project and she sent me the script. We’d met on another project a couple years before that, and she thought of me. I really fell in love with the script by Rose Gilroy, it reminded me so much of so many of the films I grew up loving in the eighties and nineties, these big, fun original comedies with movie stars. I was really drawn to the story; I was a little bit of Apollo space nut as a kid, and so I thought, wow, it will be a rare occurrence that I’ll get to merge these worlds that tonally is something in my wheelhouse.

I knew that this being her first big producing effort and also because she was starring that I’d have an opportunity to work with both her and all the amazing people that would want to work with her, which all came true. Channing was the first conversation I had after getting the job. We came in at the same time. This was summer two years ago and it was happening in the fall. Lot of prep and hiring everyone in each department and casting. But I knew it was a go film.
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DEADLINE: This is as good a performance as Johansson has delivered in some time, and her chemistry with Tatum makes you think they should do more together. Is there a moment that proved to you this chemistry works so well?

BERLANTI: Yes, in my second test for chemistry with them, because it’s such an unknowable thing to define. Everybody’s always asking you about it and the studios executives are asking you about it. On the day people are asking, do I want to keep watching what they’re doing? Do I wish I could just spy and watch these two people talk for hours? And from the second they were around each other, that was how I felt about them. It was there, in rehearsals, and then it becomes just a technical thing of, okay, how do we make this moment funnier or this moment more earnest or truthful? What’s brilliant about these two actors is, you never don’t believe them. I just felt like, okay, I got to just figure out the best way to capture that.

We had inclement weather on one of the first scenes we shot, on a pier. It was a long scene between the two of them, when she’s proposing filming the moon landing for the first time. He’s seeing for the first time that they’re on equal footing for the first time. We shot in inclement weather and it still worked. Everyone’s like, well, it works and I’m like, yeah, but the weather’s horrible. It’s supposed to be Florida. But to see that even in the bad weather with the wind blowing their hair, these two were still…you were so focused on them, it made me realize, okay, even in that horrible weather. Now I’d like to do in when it’s beautiful outside, and dreamy.

Edited July 12 by tv echo

[Dimity]

One of the few movie promos that is making me want to go see it! 

[Shannon L.]

I saw it today and really enjoyed it. There weren't a lot of people in the theater at 11am on a Sunday, but everyone who was there was laughing throughout the movie. I saw it described as a romantic comedy, which is one of the reasons that some of the critics were let down. Personally,  I thought it was simply a light, cute, fun comedy and the romance was secondary.  Maybe it could have been a little shorter,  but overall,  I didn't feel like I wasted time or money on it. It was a nice way to relax on a hot day. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

Channing Tatum's hairdo/haircut was incredibly distracting.  I don't remember men having haircuts like that back then, and as far as I could tell he was the only one. 

Other than that, I enjoyed it.  One reason I went was because all the critics are complaining about tonal shifts and I wanted to see some for myself.  😀

[DanaK]

Streams on Apple+ beginning December 6

http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2024/11/22/apple-original-films-fly-me-to-the-moon-to-premiere-december-6-2024-126314/20241122apple01/

[chediavolo]

I liked it more than I thought. I was hoping someone would adopt the poor black cat.
Woody Harrelson deserves a shout out. 
It did emphasize how bad an actor Channing Tatum is and Scarlett Johansson is no Meryl Streep herself. But it worked.