Film

Moonwalkers

Name: Moonwalkers
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2015
Cast: Rupert Grint, Ron Perlman, Robert Sheehan, Stephen Campbell Moore, Eric Lampaert

Comedy
Con-artist caper
Light-hearted

A comedy built on the absurd premise that Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing for the CIA. It's a time-hopping buddy caper set in swinging London, built on anachronism and escalating absurdity. The tone is deliberately silly rather than clever—it swings for laughs first, plausibility never. For anyone who enjoys broad comedy pitched at conspiracy-theory paranoia.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy shaggy, slightly sour buddy comedies where two mismatched men bicker their way into an absurd scheme and the jokes come from character rather than gags.

Skip it if you want a tight, fast caper; at just over an hour and a half it wanders through its loose, scruffy set-ups and some of the jokes land flat along the way.

What it asks of you: Patience with a rambling, lightly anarchic rhythm, and a willingness to let the sixties London scruffiness and the odd-couple banter carry the running time.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb1964

Kubrick's own masterpiece about institutions eating themselves through bureaucracy and absurdity. The same DNA of escalating madness, but with satirical teeth and performances that build hysteria into philosophy.

But It's bleak and deliberately difficult in ways Moonwalkers isn't. The comedy serves a much darker argument about nuclear brinkmanship and human stupidity.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb poster

The Right Stuff1983

A sprawling, funny ensemble about the space race that loves its characters and the era in equal measure. Captures the swagger and paranoia of Cold War America without winking at the camera.

But It's nearly four hours and takes itself seriously. The humor emerges from character and situation, not from gags landing every thirty seconds.

Catch Me If You Can2002

Spielberg and DiCaprio on con artistry and the charming liar at the centre of it. A lighter touch than you'd expect, genuinely fun in the way Moonwalkers aims for but doesn't quite land.

But The con is never really the point—it's a character study. If you want schemes and chaos rather than psychology, this drifts away from what interests you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Moonwalkers

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Capricorn One1977

Both are built on the same kernel—what if space agencies lied about landing?—but Capricorn One plays it straight as a procedural thriller while Moonwalkers treats it as a lark. One is the serious version of the other's joke.

A pre-VCR conspiracy thriller that asks what if NASA faked Mars instead of moon landing, and sells the paranoia with genuine tension. It's the film that this premise actually wants to be—thrilling, taut, about the weight of the con.

But It's earnest and deliberately suspicious of everyone. There's no relief valve of self-aware humor; the paranoia is the point, not the punchline.

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

Scorsese's excess machine turned loose on greed and performance. Sheer velocity and commitment to the bit, with a cast that seems to be having the time of their lives making increasingly terrible decisions.

But Three and a half hours of escalating debauchery can feel punishing rather than fun. It's genuinely ugly in places, not just outrageous.

The Ocean's 11 Story2001

An ensemble heist that prioritizes charm and momentum over plausibility. Everyone looks like they're having a blast, and that energy carries you through improbable sequences.

But The plot barely matters and the ending is more sleight-of-hand than satisfaction. If you need the scheme to actually hold up, this will irritate you.

The Death of Stalin2017

Black-and-white political comedy about power-grabbing Soviet bureaucrats. Uses anachronistic dialogue and visual chaos to make Cold War paranoia genuinely hilarious and humanizing.

But The humor is sophisticated and the film assumes you know your history. It's fast and sometimes hard to follow if you're not paying full attention.

Idiocracy2006

A time-travel comedy that builds its gags on the same principle as Moonwalkers: what if this ridiculous premise were just accepted by the story? Committed to its own silliness.

But The satire is blunt and the film wears its contempt for its own characters visibly. It's mean-spirited in ways that stop being funny halfway through.

The Nice Guys2016

A buddy-cop comedy set in '70s LA with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe fundamentally incompatible. The era detail, the banter, and the commitment to letting chaos reign without neatness.

But The plot falls apart in the final act and feels like an afterthought. If narrative coherence matters to you, this will feel sloppy.

Vice2018

McKay's Dick Cheney film uses Kubrick-ish visual pranks and anachronism to explore power and deception. Hyperactive and formally inventive in ways that share DNA with Moonwalkers' energy.

But The stylistic flourishes can feel like decoration on top of a story you already know. Some viewers find the directorial winking exhausting rather than engaging.

In the Loop2009

Both deploy ensemble casts in scenarios where powerful institutions scramble to cover up implausible lies. In the Loop just has actual bite where Moonwalkers has good intentions and shrugs.

British political satire about language, miscommunication, and bureaucratic chaos escalating into disaster. The dialogue is virtuosic and filthy; the energy is controlled hysteria without ever becoming cartoonish.

But It's relentlessly verbal and Scottish. If you're not attuned to rapid-fire insults and regional accents, it becomes exhausting rather than fun.

Bananas1971

Both are comedies built on the absurdity of Cold War paranoia and institutional stupidity, but Bananas is looser and weirder, more interested in the texture of the era than the specifics of the con.

Woody Allen's anarchic Cold War comedy about a political con in a fake banana republic. Episodic, gleefully unconcerned with narrative coherence, committed to the bit even when it stops making sense.

But It's deliberately formless and sometimes offensive by modern standards. Allen's neurotic voice dominates; if you don't find that specific register funny, nothing will land.