A conspiracy-driven crime caper puts a foil hat on the streaming charts

You don’t have to believe a conspiracy theory in order to get a kick out of it, and 2015 crime comedy Moonwalkers used one of the most famous examples as the basis for an offbeat action comedy that failed to maximize the boundless imagination on display.

The plot revolves around the well-known line of speculation positing that not only were the Moon landings faked by the United States government, but legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was involved. Using that as a jumping-off point, writer Dean Craig and director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet heaedd deep down a rabbit hole of irreverent insanity.

Ron Perlman leads the cast as a disturbed Vietnam veteran working for the CIA, who finds himself tasked to recruit Kubrick in order to shoot footage of astronauts walking on the Moon, in the event of the Apollo 11 mission failing. The fed travels to London to meet the director’s agent, only to encounter his cousin instead, as played by Rupert Grint.

However, the ambitious would-be music promoter convinces his roommate to pose as Kubrick to seal the deal, and land them a big pile of cash for their trouble. Of course, Grint’s Jonny is also in debt to the local criminal underworld, throwing another chaotic spanner into the works. Despite such a zany premise, identical Rotten Tomatoes scores of 42 percent from critics and fans highlight that Moonwalkers wasn’t quite up to scratch.

And yet, the underwhelming escapade has become a certified smash hit on streaming over the weekend after racking up multiple Top 10 chart placings on iTunes, per FlixPatrol. A fitfully entertaining diversion, but it could have turned out so much better with a few small tweaks.