WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

It’s the late 1960s and NASA’s Apollo moon programme is losing momentum, with the US Senate threatening to cut funding.

President Nixon sends a staffer, Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), out of the shadows to recruit one of New York City’s top advertising executives, Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) to help NASA woo enough Senators to keep the cash flowing.

But the programme director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) isn’t interested in dumbing down what he’s doing and believes the mission should speak for itself.

While sparks are flying under the surface between Cole and Kelly, any chance of a relationship crumbles when Cole discovers that Kelly is going along with Moe’s radical back-up plan, in case the mission fails.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

With two highly accomplished and confident performances at its heart – and Harrelson’s hugely entertaining support role lurking in the wings – Fly Me To The Moon is a very easy watch.

It also puts an interesting twist on the well-worn conspiracy theory about the moon landings having been faked.

Yet for all its history making and plot twists, there never seems to be much peril; rather than being asked to worry about whether or not humans will make it safely to the surface of the moon and back, this film is more interested in whether President Nixon’s spin doctor is going to get away with his plan to ensure that whatever happens, the public think everything is fine. The stakes never feel particularly high.

This makes for a thoughtful discussion point, as it considers whether it can be acceptable for politicians to lie – for the good of the people, you understand – but somehow, the more challenging elements of the story get diluted by the tantalising whiff of romance or the furtherance of science.

There’s a bit of satire – a bit of political Deep Throat, but without the menace. At the same time, the film seems to be trying to be both too simple and too ambitious and it’s a difficult circle to square.

But there’s always enough charm and humour to carry the audience through what was clearly designed to come across as a feel-good, old-time, 60s-style comic drama, even if it ends up somewhat predictable and surprisingly insignificant. Visually, it has convincing production design and costumes – not to mention hair-styles that are authentic to the point of distraction.

Fly Me To The Moon is entertaining but deceptively slight and never really quite leaves the ground. Perhaps the most ground-breaking achievement of the film is to create a new genre, which I’ll call “sci-rom.”