Fly Me to the Moon | 2024 | PG-13 | – 1.2.5

Why is “Fly Me to the Moon” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some strong language, and smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of kisses and hugs, several scenes depicting the Apollo 1 tragedy, several arguments and discussions of a murder, fraud and at least one F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set in the late 1950s: In an effort to fully fund the space endeavor leading up to Apollo 11, a smooth-talking and successful marketing manager (Scarlett Johansson) takes on the task of bringing the mission to every American home, not realizing how she might impact the lives of others on the project. Also with Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano, Jim Rash, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Christian Clemenson, Colin Woodell, Nick Dillenburg, Christian Zuber and Colin Jost. Directed by Greg Berlanti. [Running Time: 2:12]

Fly Me to the Moon SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and a woman hug and kiss tenderly. A woman slides off the wing of a plane and into a man’s arms and they kiss.
► Men and women dance at a celebration after a successful rocket launch. Men and women slow dance at a parry and embrace.
► A woman talks to three men while doing a marketing campaign pitch and moves close to them while speaking in a sultry voice about their cars’ safety being a key component of selling cars. A man is dismissive when a seemingly pregnant woman enters a meeting room and identifies herself as the marketing manager that will be pitching a new campaign for their car company; the man tells her to go back to the secretarial pool.
► A woman wears a tight-fitting, low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a halter dress that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders.

Fly Me to the Moon VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – Several news clips show rockets exploding in midair and many flashbacks show a space capsule catching fire (the Apollo 1 tragedy, when three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, perished).
► A liquid hydrogen tank leaks in a large hangar and a man waves a straw broom over the tanks to determine which one is leaking; the straw catches fire over one tank and the tank explodes throwing the man across the room (he is shown OK later but his hearing seems to have been affected by the blast). A part of a large hangar where a rocket is being built is seen in flames (we do not see damage later). A rocket on a launch pad lifts off with a lot of flames and smoke around its engines and a loud rumble until it lifts off. A man speeds in a car on a dark highway. Two men attached to cables are lifted off the ground and to simulate walking on the moon, they bump into each other and knock a light over starting a fire that is quickly doused; we see the men dangling from the cables as punishment. A man lunges backward when a cat runs across a set and bumps into a flagpole and another man. A giant vehicle transports a rocket to a launch site very slowly. Control room engineers are relieved when communication resumes after a space vessel goes quiet on the dark side of the moon. A tense moment occurs when astronauts deploy a lunar lander and the landing uses up more of their fuel reserves than expected, threatening their ability to get back to the capsule. A space capsule splashes down in the ocean and people cheer.
► A man lunges toward a reporter during an interview when the reporter asks about his responsibility in the Apollo 1 fire; he is held back by others. A woman throws a garbage can through an appliance store window breaking it and two young men steal a TV as police arrive; they are later shown being escorted by the police through traffic. A woman describes her mother having killed a man and that she went to prison. A cat walks on a catwalk over a set and a man falls from the catwalk when he is startled; he catches onto a rope and swings in the background while other people chase the cat through the set.
► A woman tells a man that he is not allowed to talk about a project they are working on and says that if he does, “They will shoot you.” A man tells a woman that she is on fire when her notebook catches fire from a candle and she quips, “No, I will not stop, drop and roll with you”; she then sees the flames and pours her cocktail on them causing them to spread on the table and the man souses them with his jacket. A man yells at a woman when he enters her office and says that he walked off the set of a commercial. A woman talks about a man having made a child cry while filming a commercial with him. A man is dismissive when a seemingly pregnant woman enters a meeting room and identifies herself as the marketing manager that will be pitching a new campaign for their car company; the man tells her to go back to the secretarial pool. A man and a woman argue about using advertising and marketing to inspire interest in the space program. A woman describes Russia as a “tight-lipped dictatorship.” A man says that he had emergency bi-pass surgery and that another man worries about him smoking. A man says that another man could not make it into the space program because doctors found an “A-fib.” A government representative says that he will not vote to fund the space program because his state has suffered devastating floods and the money would be better used to help his constituents. A man says to a woman, “That’s the last time I trust a woman,” when he realizes that she was lying to him. A young woman complains about having to work for Richard Nixon. A man tells two women that they must leave a high security area and says, “I’ll try not to kill you.” A woman describes living in a car with her mother when she was a child and selling a variety of products door-to-door. A man tells a woman that he wants her to stage and film a moon landing in case the real mission doesn’t go well. A man yells at a woman in several scenes. A man says that politics is a “war on religion” and that science is the cause. A man helps a woman climb on board a plane and she keeps her eyes closed during the flight because she is afraid. A young woman complains about something dishonest that they are doing and says, “This is what happens when you work for Richard Nixon.” People argue about needing to beat Russia to the moon.
► During a tour of a space center, we see alligators in water and walking across roads and the tour guide tells two women to be careful. A man panics when a black cat moves through restricted, high-security areas in several scenes; he chases the cat a couple of times and two men argue about calling security to remove the cat. A woman screams and jumps when a cat walks across a desk. A man complains of the space program being underfunded and understaffed in many scenes. A man finds a can of partially eaten cat food on the grounds of a space complex and becomes upset. A man uses a switchblade to cut a lemon.

Fly Me to the Moon LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 8 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (sweetheart, hot headed, in a mood, the new lady, fake people, flying billboard, deadbeats, bloated mess, sanctimonious, whiny little [mild obscenity deleted], nasty, selfish), exclamations (off limits, calm down, I give up, bravissimo, oh my gosh, it’s not rocket science, epic, tough breaks, fake it, those are our guys), 3 religious profanities (GD), 11 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, for God’s sake, Jesus, my God, I swear to God, by God, God, Godspeed, Godforsaken). | profanity glossary |

Fly Me to the Moon SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman pours her cocktail on a burning notebook in a restaurant, people drink champagne from Styrofoam cups, a man carries a tray of shots of whiskey, people around a motel swimming pool drink cans of beer and smoke cigarettes, people drink cocktails and shots of liquor in a couple of bar scenes, and men in a meeting room smoke cigarettes and drink glasses of whiskey. People smoke cigarettes on an airplane, people smoke cigarettes in a few control room scenes, a young man holds a cigarette in his mouth pretending to smoke and coughs, and a man smokes outside a hangar in a few scenes.

Fly Me to the Moon DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – The Space Race, Sputnik, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Apollo 1 tragedy, conspiracy theories, making history, sacrifice, ideology, the Vietnam War, gender roles, fraud, nuclear weapons, feminism, guilt, gravity.

Fly Me to the Moon MESSAGE

 – The truth is still the truth even if nobody believes it, and a lie is still a lie even if everybody believes it.