“Fly Me to the Moon,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum , is best summed up by the next lyric of Frank Sinatra’s song. Let me play among the stars. Director Greg Berlanti’s romantic comedy, which imagines that Richard Nixon’s administration really did film a fake, backup moon landing in 1969, is a mystifying misfire all along the way from initial concept to end credits.
Where his movie does achieve liftoff, however, is its charming pair of A-list leads, who are mostly immune to the deadly material. Johansson and Tatum have a sparky, opposites-attract chemistry, and they are indeed fun to play among for a while. So ends the niceties.
This one’s a doozy. Berlanti and screenwriters Rose Gilroy, Keenan Flynn and Bill Kirstein have made what resembles an earnest historical reenactment feature. You know, those heartwarming and exaggerated (but broadly factual) movies such as “Hidden Figures” or “October Sky.
” Only — spoiler alert? — the US government did not shoot a staged moon landing. And if you believe otherwise, please, I beg you, don’t email me. How are we supposed to be inspired, moved and swept up by a story we know full well is phony? A more stylish director with a strong point of view and a finer script could perhaps figure it out.
But Berlanti, a TV bigwig who also helmed the sweet “Love, Simon,” is not skilled enough to answer that vital question. The film feels as false as its plot, by the way. The story is carelessly spun off .