Greg Berlanti

‘Fly Me To The Moon’ – A Pleasant Surprise

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

I came into “Fly Me To The Moon” with a bit of trepidation. On the surface, it looks like a fluffy and light hearted romantic comedy, the kind of film I typically avoid like the plague. Also, a portion of its story seemed determined to prove that the Apollo 11 mission and landing on the moon could have been faked, and I take major exception at anyone attempting trying to prove how that “one small step for man” was all a farce. Seriously, if you think Neil Armstrong and company making it to the moon was all a big fat lie, I invite you to watch the 2019 documentary “Apollo 11” which makes clear the mission did in fact happen, and to believe otherwise would be blasphemous.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by “Fly Me To The Moon” as it proves to be a warm-hearted any very involving film which has laughs, genuine emotions, and some truly wonderful performances throughout. It also serves as a reminder of how, even back in the 1960’s, people were more interested in getting control of the narrative than they were about facts or what was seen as truth. This is even more the case today for reasons I’m sure I do not need to point out.

Based on a story by Bill Kirstein and Keenan Flynn, we are introduced to Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), an advertising and publicity genius who is, shall we say, recruited by a shady government agent named Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) to fix up NASA’s image in preparation for the big Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Upon arriving in Florida along with her assistant (played by Anna Garcia), she comes into direct conflict with NASA director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) who is determined to see this mission through to completion without any complications. But with these two characters being played by Johansson and Tatum, you know sparks will be eventually fly between them because, you know, why not?

First off, I have to point out what a dynamo Scarlett Johansson is here as Kelly. In her first scene in which she confidently manipulates a trio of automobile executives to include seatbelts in their upcoming models, Johansson is ever so sublime as she commands the screen to an infinitely enjoyable extent. Watching her make her way into places no civilian is allowed and getting the participations of companies willing to hawk their products (Tang, in particular, is an unforgettable standout) is infinitely enjoyable to witness. And when the time is right, she shows a vulnerable side to Kelly which hits right at our hearts.

As for Channing Tatum, I’m a little torn on his performance as Cole Davis. Part of me wishes he didn’t appear so stiff at times, but maybe this was by design. Cole is a NASA official who is as strait-laced as they come, and Tatum plays this to perfection even as I wanted him loosen up a bit. But as the movie goes on, his performance improves as he comes to like Kelly more than he thought he would, and he does have a bit of chemistry with Johansson which certainly helps. And in the end, like him, we want to see this particular Apollo mission succeed.

“Fly Me To The Moon” reaches an especially interesting point when Moe orders Kelly to set up a fake moon landing on a nearby stage in the NASA compound. It is meant to serve as a backup in case the Apollo 11 mission fails, but Moe eventually admits that this fake setup will be the only moon landing anyone will ever see on television as America is determined to win the Space Race no matter what. It is an interesting conundrum as government forces ensuring that there will be footage of astronauts landing on the moon makes sense, and makes even more sense that there would be a serious need for a backup plan to be utilized to ensure some kind of moon landing would take place for the public to see. Still, some things in this world can’t be even better than the real thing regardless of what U2 says.

Director Greg Berlanti (“Love, Simon”) and screenwriter Rose Gilroy do not reinvent the romantic comedy drama, let alone the period romantic comedy drama, but they do give us a lot of inspired dialogue and situations as Kelly and company work to deceive government officials into believing they are watching a staged landing when they are actually, and desperately, trying to broadcast the real deal. With the inclusion of the average black cat, things become more exciting than you might expect them to be.

In addition to Johansson and Tatum, a number of other actors give memorable performances here. Woody Harrelson is a hoot as he made me believe without much doubt how Moe Berkus can hear and see everything from a mile away. His work here is a reminder of how he can play any role given to him, and this has been the case for many years now.

Watching Ray Romano as Cole’s NASA friend, Henry Smalls, is a reminder of what a truly terrific actor he can be. Granted, this was made clear to me years ago with his work in “Rob the Mob” and “The Irishman,” but I’m not sure people know him enough outside of his “Everybody Loves Raymond” and stand-up comedy success. Romano gives Henry a lot of genuine emotion, and he fully humanizes this character in ways any great actor could and should. He is that good here.

If there’s a scene stealer to be found in this film, it is Jim Rash who portrays the obsessive director of the fake moon landing, Lance Vespertine. There’s no forgetting him after this as he makes us understand why Lance is such an exacting filmmaker to where he treats government agents and actual astronauts as if they are the worst actors ever. He is such a flamboyant presence throughout, and yet he also manages to avoid turning Lance into a mere caricature. Others may disagree with this assessment, but there you go.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from “Fly Me To The Moon” when I walked into the theater as it was not a summer movie I was eagerly waiting for, but I came out of it pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It takes familiar elements from the average romantic movie and makes them feel fresh in my eyes, and it once again reminds me of what a tremendous talent Johansson can be. Also, it is further indisputable proof of how Apollo 11 did in fact land on the moon. For some stupid ass reason, there are still many committed to believing the whole thing was faked and that Stanley Kubrick was somehow involved. Seriously, get a life already!

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‘Love, Simon’ Digs Deep Enough Beneath the Surface

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Love Simon movie poster

When it comes to teen movies, I live for those which take the adolescence seriously. Those years can be rough and tumble ones, filled of strong emotions which can overwhelm our small little worlds to an unbearable degree, and this is reflected in “The Breakfast Club,” “Pump Up the Volume” and “The Spectacular Now.” However, most teen movies deal with those years in a shallow manner to where they do nothing more than magnify the fears we have, or had, of being seen as unpopular or horribly isolated from our peers. Going into “Love, Simon,” which is based on the book “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, I figured it would be one of the shallower motion pictures involving teen life as its poster features the cast in all their clear-skinned glory. Surely some of these stars had to deal with acne, right?

“Love, Simon” ends up falling into the middle space of realistic and shallow teen movies. Some parts of it feel forced to where they belong more in a network sitcom, but others strike at the truth of growing up in a way few other movies have recently. In fact, this may be the first movie in which we eagerly await to see two guys kiss. Many were revolted by such a sight in the past, but these days we accept it because love is far more an attractive thing than hate. Realizing this, it makes me believe we have evolved as a society even more than we already have.

Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) is your average teenager who comes from a good home with loving parents and a sister who looks to become a world class chef in record time. He also has a great group of friends he can confide in any time, and this made me very envious of his life as it didn’t feel like I always had that when I was his age. But Simon does have a big secret, and he doesn’t need to spell it out for us. He is gay and has yet to tell his family and friends, and the only way he can discuss his sexual orientation dilemma is with his email pen pal who is also contemplating how he can come out to his own family and friends.

Right from the start, I realized “Love, Simon” is a groundbreaking movie as the filmmakers were not about to paint the majority of the characters in such broad or obvious strokes. I was constantly reminded of the scene from “Clueless” in which Murray tells Cher that the boy she wants to have sex with is in fact a “disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holding friend of Dorothy.” While homosexuals might, and I strongly stress the word might, have been easier to spot in the past, such stereotypes we are now largely irrelevant as we have no business judging anyone as what we say about others speaks far more about who we are.

“Love, Simon” also takes place in a time where our lives have long since become dominated by social media and cell phones. In the past, we could leave our school lives behind once we went home, but kids today cannot do the same as their friends and enemies continue to exert a strong hold over them via the internet, and nobody these days can live without it let alone a cell phone.

Simon is able to keep his sexual orientation a secret even as he reaches out online to another young man who is considering coming out to his parents. Things, however, become complicated when the annoying class nerd, Martin Addison (Logan Miller), discovers Simon’s secret and threatens to blackmail him unless he can set him up with one of his very pretty friends, Abby (Alexandra Shipp). From there, Simon’s life heads into a spiral of sorts as he is forced to lie to his closest friends and comprise their relationships, all in an effort to keep his secret even more secret than ever before.

One of the key elements of “Love, Simon” is how our main protagonist is always trying to find out the true identity of his email pen-pal, Blue. The filmmakers tantalize us with the possibilities of it being this or that person, Director Greg Berlanti teases us with what could be obvious answers, but he instead invites us to see past what we thought we saw and see the bigger picture we have no business denying ourselves. Movies in the past have played on what we think homosexuals look, how they act and dress like, but this one makes how nothing is ever clear cut as it seems.

The only character who you could say exhibits such stereotypes is Ethan, an out-and-proud teenager played by Clark Moore. Ethan doesn’t try to hide who he really is from anyone, nor should he, but he does have a key scene with Simon where he explains how his coming out was not as easy as it seemed. In retrospect, I wished the filmmakers had dug a little deeper into Ethan’s character, but to their credit, they do give him some of the movie’s best one-liners (the “gangbanged by TJ Maxx” line is classic).

I also really enjoyed the camaraderie Simon has with his best friends played by Shipp, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Miles Heizer, and Katherine Langford, whose character fares much better here than the one she played on “13 Reasons Why.” Seeing these friends have a great time with one another reminded me of the friendships I had during my high school years. It’s those friendships who help us get through the worst of times, and being a teenager can really suck more often than not. When Simon’s friendships become threatened, it’s painful to watch because losing a friend can seem so infinitely painful to where the heartache seems impossible to cure.

As for the character of Martin, he reminds of the kind of guy I never wanted to be seen as in high school. You know, the guy completely unaware of how annoying he is to others and who thinks so highly of himself that he cannot see the truth of what’s going on around him. The scene where he professes his affection to Abby at a football game is one of those horrifically cringe-inducing moments we all hope and pray never to get caught in, and Miller sells the moment for all the humiliation it is worth.

Simon’s parents are played wonderfully by Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel, and they present the typical loving couple and parents we always hope to see in movies like these. Garner in particular has a wonderful scene with Robinson as she professes how proud she is of him for coming out. Duhamel, however, has a scene with Robinson where he accepts his son for who he is, and it feels like laughable for reasons I’m sure the filmmakers didn’t intend. Still, it’s fun to see Duhamel come to see how the music he loved in the past is no longer cool.

“Love, Simon” also features a pair of sublime supporting performances from Tony Hale and Natasha Rothwell, both who look like they are having the time of their lives. Hale plays Mr. Worth, the high school’s vice-principal who tries much too hard to fit in with a youthful demographic who will never see him as cool, especially when he is so busy taking away their cell phones at any given opportunity.

As for Rothwell, she plays Ms. Albright, the school’s drama teacher who is directing a production of the musical “Cabaret.” Her reactions to her students’ talent, or lack thereof, are priceless as she wonders how she went from doing “The Lion King” on Broadway to ending up here. Just watch Rothwell as she reprimands a pair of immature students who make fun of others for being different. The way she handles them could have been cliched, but it leads to one of the biggest laughs “Love, Simon” has in store for its audience.

In some ways I wish “Love, Simon” had dug even deeper into its subject manner. Many scenes ring true in the ways teenager act and live their lives, but it only gives so far beneath the surface of things to where this comes close to seeming like a missed opportunity. All the same, to have a movie like this one which the life of an adolescent seriously is always a wonderful gift, and this one definitely qualifies.

In the past, gay-themed or LGBT movies were treated with latex gloves as studios feared general audiences would not be quick to accept homosexuals in love. But with movies like “Brokeback Mountain” and “The Kids Are All Right,” we were not given gay love stories, but love stories as passionate as any we had ever watched before. The audience I saw “Love, Simon” with cheered loudly at the sight of two boys kissing each other, and I like to think this shows how far we have come in accepting things which never should have been quicker to accept in the past. Besides, we should agree seeing two boys kiss is a far more pleasing sight than seeing teenagers gunned down by a madman with an assault weapon, wouldn’t you say?

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