Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Year: 2016
Genre: War Comedy
Directed: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Stars: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Billy Bob Thornton, Christopher Abbott, Nicholas Braun, Stephen Peacocke, Sheila Vand, Evan Jonigkeit
Production: Paramount Pictures

Quixotically, while watching Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in theaters, the first movie comparison that immediately came to mind was 28 Days (2000). Not Catch-22 (1970) not Salvador (1986) nor any other pitch black war comedies that make bold statements with familiar conceits. This little flick is more aptly compared to a feel-good Sandra Bullock vehicle about an alcoholic forced into rehab. Maybe it's because there are a lot of comparisons in this film between drugs and making your mark as a war correspondent. Maybe its the film's half-solemn, half-realized message of self-actualization that makes Tina Fey's character able to adjust to different scenarios. Or maybe it's the fact that despite taking on a difficult subject, the film comes off trite and superficial.

Cheers to those who remember this movie

The film concerns itself with the exploits of wartime news correspondent Kim Barker (Fey) as she files her stories from Kabul between 2004 and 2006. When we first meet Kim she's living a life of quiet desperation, typing away at her news desk and submitting domestic story scripts for dumb pretty anchors on the evening news. With all outlet resources going to Iraq to cover the war there, Kim is chosen to pick up the afterthoughts in Afghanistan. While there she befriends veteran journalist Tanya Vanderpoel (Robbie), freelance photographer Iain MacKelpie (Freeman) and Fahim (Abbott) her translator and "fixer". As she slowly gains her barrings in the hostile war-zone around her, country-wise General Hollanek (Thornton) sees her as a liability while reluctantly taking her on missions through the mountainside.

Let me be clear, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is not a bad movie. The mechanics of the script works well, the characterization by Fey, Freeman and Robbie are on point and the cinematography keeps enough of a visual rhythm to tie everything in a nice, pretty little bow. The action sequences are a little sloppy, but you can't really blame co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa for taking bold risks. There's a moment where a rescue team gears up and neutralizes targets to Harry Nilsson's Without You. It's an inspired moment and I appreciate their instincts but it could have been done so much better.

My main issue with this film however has to do with it's off-putting melding of message and genre. Our plucky hero Kim goes through a character arc and completes her self-actualization within all the satisfactory story beats, yet what the movie never seems to get around to adding weight to is: we're still watching a movie about war. Despite the film's location and timeline, not one of our characters except maybe the General seems to mind their surroundings. Near the end of the film Fahim makes an off-hand comment about Ramadan while Kim looks blankly out her car window. This may have been added to clarify to the audience, but really it just makes Kim look ignorant about Ramadan rituals. This is despite Kim living in Kabul for two years. We as the audience are treated to extended moments of different cultural norms as well as end-of-the-world-type debauchery, witty repartee and the occasional IED all reacted to with the same dismissive shoulder shrug and not with any level of gravitas, existentialism or pathos.

What could have been a challenging and engaging film about modern warfare ended up simply being a Tina Fey vehicle  (no she did not write it)  with a "I am woman, hear me roar" narrative. This is not altogether a bad thing, just not a plot worthy of similar films such as The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Instead, watching Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was like watching Crazy, Stupid Love. (2011) through the lens of Jarhead (2005); it can be entertaining at times but mostly it just makes you cock your head and ask why?

Final Grade: D+