While this is far from the greatest movie you’ll ever see, it is well worth a watch if you have an Apple TV subscription.
I generally avoid movies inspired by real events because the plot tends to be predictable and bland, but “Fly Me to the Moon” (2024) manages to keep things interesting and engaging despite the challenging premise it takes on.
The sets were beautiful. The supporting cast was endearing. The actors did a solid job. Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is a really fun and interesting character and Johansson did a great job bringing her to life. Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) is kind of forgettable, at least next to Jones, but Tatum did a good job nonetheless, even though he isn’t the least bit believable as a middle-aged man alive in the 60s. Also, I don’t understand why he spends half the movie wearing a Charlie Brown style sweater shirt thing. I guess all the budget they had for wardrobe went to Jones and her outfits, which were phenomenal, so maybe it was a necessary sacrifice. Regardless, I also enjoyed how their romance helped them grow as people, which is a quality of a good rom-com.
My biggest complaints are (in no particular order) that Colin Jost (Scarlett Johansson’s husband) needs to look at least 20 years older to be believable as a senator, that Jones and Davis had great platonic, but not romantic chemistry, that pairing authentic footage with modern camera quality made it hard to get immersed in the film, and that it doesn’t really make sense that Davis agreed to take Jones out on a date when he very clearly hated her.
