Fly Me to the Moonis a oddment in today ’s movie landscape . The new film from Apple andLove , Simondirector Greg Berlanti is a good sometime - fashioned quixotic drollery that , in true Hollywood mode , use the Space Race of the belated ’ 60s as the backdrop for a love floor between two bickering people who see themselves pulled together against their own better judgement . Thanks to one casting extremity in particular , it ’s get movie star wattage that you could see from several miles away , as well as enough mile - a - minute give-and-take that one could either call it witty or impeach it of being to a fault plucky , and a surprisingly tonic flair of crackpot comedic vigour coursing through its veins .

Not all of it works , and , as is the case with a mint of Hollywood movies made above a sure budget level nowadays , take flight Me to the Moondoesn’t know how long to stick around or when to defer its head and exit stage leave alone . It is n’t , in other words , an indelible achievement like the Apollo 11 mission to the moonlight that it describe ( and twists , just a bit ) . An pleasurable , low - wager way to drop a summer Nox at the field of operations , on the other hand …

At the centre ofFly Me to the Moonare Kelly Jones ( Scarlett Johansson ) , a ingenious New York marketing medical specialist , and Cole Davis ( Channing Tatum ) , a former buffer workings inexhaustibly at NASA as its lead flight theatre director . The first time they come across , Kelly is ride alone at a diner tabular array sporting a yellowed dress and a Marilyn Monroe - esque ’ sixty blonde bob . Cole is immediately struck by her mantrap , and it ’s easy to see why , given how lovingly Berlanti frames Johansson in this moment and how delicately cinematographer Dariusz Wolski ignite her as she sit down alone . It ’s only after she “ unintentionally ” lights her notebook on fire , though , that he bump an alibi to approach her and severalise her , much to his own embarrassment , that she ’s the most beautiful woman he ’s seen in quite a while .

More than a few sparks pilot during their sports meeting - cunning , which Tatum and Johansson flirt with appropriate sum of money of warmness and spooky anxiousness . However , when Kelly register up at NASA the next day and announces that she ’s been hired by a deep government man named Moe Berkus ( a well - utilized Woody Harrelson ) to vamp the agency ’s public range , Cole ’s opinion of her now shifting . go is the heartfelt Latinian language of their first meeting . In its place , Berlanti and screenwriter Rose Gilroy ab initio find a more heightened comedic rhythm forFly Me to the Moon — one that let Johansson ’s Kelly to emerge as the fast - talking , bowelless Barbara Stanwyck to Tatum ’s more stone - confront , firm moral Gary Cooper .

Johansson , for her part , shines in her part . The cinema is never better than when she ’s coming up with new advert campaigns and adopting dissimilar accents to court sure public representatives over to NASA ’s side . The actress is asked to be at the same time a quick - witted marketing shark and a hopeless romanticist , and Johansson play both English of her fictitious character with astonishing relief . Tatum , conversely , does n’t fare as well . As a performing artist , he ’s well suit for the variety of goofy comedy that his co - star gets to float in here , and he conk out to land the right amount of gravitas to his straight - man role in the picture show . That is , to his cite , both his fault and partly an offspring with Gilroy ’s hand , which struggles to consistently apologise Cole ’s continue , charisma - less presence inFly Me to the Moon , especially as it leans further and further into pure absurdity in its third act .

Tatum ’s pouty , stoic turn only feels more out of plaza onceFly Me to the Moon introduce its most high - concept twist : a staged , Hollywood - style recreation of the moonshine landing that Moe assigns Kelly to put together in mystery as a “ backup ” in case the Apollo 11 military mission fails . The subplot ’s beginning in long - tolerate conspiracy theories is clear and playful , and it givesFly Me to the Moonthe chance to inject even more drollery into itself at a point in its runtime when it feels dangerously close-fitting to losing all momentum . Kelly ’s comedic chemistry with her director of selection , Lance Vespertine ( Jim Rash ) , is as strong as it is with her help , Ruby ( Anna Garcia ) . The film ’s prank about control freak directors with high-flown ego are n’t by any means young , but Lance ’s increase purpose in its 2nd one-half gives it an apology to follow the Apollo 11 mission all the way to its successful , real - life decision and , therefore , a chance at a unclouded , bunch - pleasing electric arc for it to graph .

The picture is dragged down at times by Tatum ’s lackluster performance , and it go on 15 minutes longer than it should . While its silly streak is both admirable and welcome , too , the movie does n’t trust its fruitcake instincts enough to keep an eye on them all the style to the end . Even when a more impertinent ending — one full of smitten defeat a laThe Lady Eve — is open and available to it , Gilroy ’s handwriting place for a more obvious , saccharine , and moralistic final note that it does n’t completely murder . And yet , despite all of these flaws , “ crowd - pleasing ” may still be the best tidings to describeFly Me to the Moon .

Fly Me to the Moonhits theatre of operations on Friday , July 12 .