This is going to be a hard movie for critics to review. It’s as if you’re a restaurant critic for “Food & Wine” and instead of a Michelin star restaurant, you’re writing a piece on a greasy spoon you hit off the freeway on the way home from Vegas. The meatloaf and mashed potatoes were rather enjoyable, and did the job. It wasn’t duck braised in white wine with a garlic and thyme sauce, but not every meal has to be.
This was a flawed movie in many ways, but it reminded me of some charming Doris Day/Rock Hudson picture from back in the day. So you get this romantic comedy that takes place around the moon landing, and combine it with a few other plots.
Now, I attack nepo babies in Hollywood that take so many acting jobs, but the ones that are writers deserve all the credit in the world. This cute picture was done by Rose Gilroy, the daughter of Rene Russo and Dan Gilroy (his film “Nightcrawler” was one of the best pictures of 2014). Rose Gilroy gave us a terrific premise – a White House thug (Woody Harrelson) telling a marketing expert for NASA (Scarlett Johansson) to film a fake moon landing. That way if the U.S. doesn’t make it to the moon, at least there’s video showing we did, which can be a big middle finger to the Russians.
[Side note: can’t wait to see if this movie fires up all the conspiracy theory goofballs out there that will insist this is the true story.]
This premise might confuse some people, since the fictional story is combined with real events. (I seem to recall a similar thing happening when people asked if Jack and Rose were real passengers on the Titanic.)
Kelly Jones (Johansson) is tasked with selling Americans on the excitement of the moon landing, while the news seemed more interested in covering the war in Vietnam. And she has to start filming a fake moon landing, without Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) finding out. You see, he’s involved in really getting the astronauts to the moon. They have chemistry, and it’s not hard to figure out that a romance will develop, even though they’re constantly at odds.
I was pleasantly surprised that Woody Harrelson, who is in way too many movies, didn’t make me think of any of his other characters; and the same thing with Ray Romano, who has such a distinctive voice. He brings a bit of warmth to the movie.
I was thrilled to see Jim Rash in this. He wrote and had a part in my favorite movie of 2013 – The Way, Way Back. He won an Oscar for writing George Clooney’s “The Descendants” and Clooney’s recent op-ed about President Biden (okay, I made up that last line just to see if you were paying attention).
Rash plays the director hired to film the fake moon landing, and he’s hysterical. One scene is taken straight from “Tootsie” (the best movie in 1982).
The costume design is perfect for the time period, and aside from loving the Camaros and Corvettes I saw drive by, the score and soundtrack were perfect – Etta James, Aretha Franklin doing the appropriate “Moon River”, Jackie Wilson, the Bee Gees, Sam and Dave, and two songs from one of the best singers of all time – Sam Cooke.
[Side note two: as a huge Doors fan, I would’ve liked to have heard “Moonlight Drive”.]
At a time when people have grown tired of sequels and remakes, this is a fun summer flick that everyone will enjoy – even if it’s not Tootsie.
3 stars out of 5.