Fly Me to the Moon' fails to lift off

Part conspiracy thriller, part PSA, this ostensible romantic comedy is all over the place

- PETER HOWELL

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum star in the 1960s-set romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Fly Me to the Moon ✩✩ (out of 4) Starring Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Jim Rash and Anna Garcia. Written by Rose Gilroy. Directed by Greg Berlanti. Opens Friday at theatres everywhere (with Thursday night previews). 131 minutes.

“Fly Me to the Moon” is that rarest of movie mash-ups, a rom-com that also doubles as a conspiracy thriller.

Starring Scarlett Johansson as a stop-at-nothing marketing whiz and Channing Tatum as an oh-soserious NASA official, it makes merry with the hoariest of urban legends, the one whispering the first moon landing in 1969 was faked.

The real-world triumph of Apollo 11 has inspired many alternate-history space films, among them the 2016 faux documentary “Operation Avalanche” by Toronto’s Matt Johnson.

Like “Fly Me to the Moon,” it blends real NASA footage and locations with a fictional tale about faking the moon landing so America can declare victory over Russia (then called the Soviet Union) in the Space Race.

But while “Operation Avalanche” maintains its wide-eyed sense of paranoia, “Fly Me to the Moon” is tonally all over the place, like a communication satellite knocked out of orbit by a meteor.

One minute, it’s a frothy rom-com of headstrong characters clashing before kissing. The next minute, it’s a cloak-and-dagger drama about an attempt to hoodwink the world by faking footage as the real moon landing is actually happening, to maximize eyeballs and impact.