Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Tina Fey Goes to War

Tina Fey’s imbedded war-journalist movie, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was enjoyable in spurts, even if the overall film falls short in retrospect.

The film was marketed as a fish-out-of-water war “comedy.” Some of the trailer scenes showed Tina Fey awkwardly shooting an AK-47; but the one that really stood out was where she was doing a live television spot about the first female driver in Afghanistan, who promptly crashes the car by placing it in reverse instead of drive. Worth a chuckle, yes. But the prospects were less than optimistic. As a war “comedy” (yes, I keep using those air quotes, I’ll explain in a bit), I wasn’t sure if this was going to be more like Stripes, or more like something stupid like Ernest in the Army or Delta Farce. In other words, a flaming disaster.

In reality, however, I don’t think this movie is a war comedy at all. Instead, it’s the well-tread tale of a frustrated professional woman who goes on a journey of self discovery by blowing up her own domestic life.

It’s more Eat Pray Love, but I’d call it Snort, Report, Screw. Under the Tuscan Sun becomes Under the Kabul Mortars.

Tina Fey plays Kim Baker, a morning show segment producer for an unnamed network who, in 2003, bored with her humdrum life in Manhattan, elects to become an embedded journalist in Afghanistan. Once there, she learns that the troops think of the military action in Afghanistan as the “Forgotten War,” taking a backseat to the war in Iraq post-9/11. Baker is thrown into a world of chaos, where automatic gunfire can be the signal of hostilities or a wedding. Where western journalists live in a hedonistic enclave of sex, drugs, alcohol, and rock and roll in the capital city of a country once ruled by the iron fist of the Taliban. The film primes the audience for Baker’s confusion by launching the film in the middle of one of these wild parties, where cocaine lines are passed around like hors d’ouerves, people dance to wild party music, and random unknown individuals hook up in the middle of the room to no-one’s surprise. The image cuts are quick and shaky, preparing us for the disorientation Baker feels upon her initial arrival to the war zone.

The story progresses as Baker becomes more confident and daring in her reporting, and we watch as she teeters on the line of losing her sense of normalcy. She rides the line of becoming an exile from civilization; lost to the thrill of chasing a good story from ever-increasing danger. Ultimately, she must choose whether to chase the next adventure, or to return to a life in the U.S.

In that regard, the movie’s beats are predictable, and the story somewhat inane. It’s halfway into the movie when we learn that Baker decided to go become a wartime correspondent because of a flimsy self-realization that, after riding thousands of miles on a stationary bike at her gym, she sees that the indentation for the bike has moved back by six inches. This somehow signifying that her life is moving backwards instead of forwards. The vapidity of Baker’s reasoning for going to war is so obvious that another character comments on as “That’s the most American white-lady story I’ve ever heard.” I can only hope this line was included in a Deadpool-esque fourth wall breaking moment; the filmmakers telling the audience, “We get it. This isn’t original, but hang on with us and maybe you’ll enjoy the ride.”

I wanted out of my job. I wanted out of my mildly depressive boyfriend. I wanted to blow everything up. – Kim Baker

The other issue I had with the movie was that although I enjoyed Tina Fey in this movie, it largely felt like every other character Tina Fey has played, with the exception of her character in Sisters. Tough, smart, driven, feminist professional in the media trying against all odds to keep things together and moving forward. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that realization pulled me out of the film from time to time.

That’s not to say that parts of the movie weren’t fun. Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman put in good turns as other embedded correspondents who become addicted to the adrenaline rush of combat reporting (though the movie makes it clear that adrenaline isn’t the only thing addictive in this movie). Alfred Molina also does an excellent job with his role as the Afghan Attorney General who develops an inexplicable crush on Tina Fey’s character, maybe because she’s a Kabul 9.5 while a Manhattan 6 – something Margot Robbie explains as “Kabul cute.” Billy Bob Thornton’s General Hollanek is a tough-as-nails marine general who, rather than resist Baker’s drive to imbed and follow the troops, welcomes her into the fold and ultimately helps her when needed. The cast here did an excellent job with the material, but the story ultimately let them down by failing to develop as fully as it could have.

All in all, the movie didn’t feel like a “comedy” as we know it. It’s a funny movie (and it definitely had its funny moments) trying to tell a story. In the end, however, the story just wasn’t that interesting this time around.

She says: Any time a movie states that it is based on a true story, I’m intrigued to learn more.  Unless it is a documentary, the directors and editors take their liberties in telling the story and often overdramatize it. This was based on Kim Barker’s memoir “The Taliban Shuffle”.   A movie title using the word Taliban would be a hard sale so they settled on Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, in military speak WTF.   I do have an interest to read the book now, after watching the movie, in order to learn more about the Forgotten War as well as better understand the true story.  This was an entertaining movie, and I agree with Him that it is more a female journey of self discovery which just happened to be in a war zone.