It's the Hurt Locker of Afghanistan journalism movies and to be honest, that's probably the best comparison I can give this film. Both feature people doing really stupid things just for the thrill and rush they get in war-torn countries. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot will surprise you with it’s smarts and intelligence, but will really surprise you when you realise just how good Tina Fey is at drama.
The story follows real-life journalist Kim Baker, played by Fey, who chooses to pack everything up and move to Afghanistan, for the less than subtle reason that because she is one of the only unmarried, childless personal in this bureau and with no kids she is deemed the least expensive insurance risk by her network. So, kick in the uterus aside, she takes the opportunity and very quickly becomes an adrenaline junkie searching for the next big story as she competes with other reporters and spends way too much time watching dogs humping.
The film has the usual Tina Fey humour but also has the intelligence and commentary that comes with a Tina Fey production. The film asks big questions about war and cultural differences, but not in a way that is dismissive or generic. The soundtrack is also really interesting in the sense that it's a collection of songs that do not really belong together, but that's not a negative. The film starts with House Of Pain's Jump Around and ends with The National's Green Gloves and in between we have Aha, Radiohead, Kid Rock and The Chipmunks just to name a few. If nothing else, these songs at least keep you on your toes.
The film is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who have given us films like Crazy, Stupid Love, Focus and I Love You Phillip Morris. Some of the great strengths of what they’ve done is the use of cutaways to really help paint the picture of not only the surroundings but the situations. Between shots of dogs humping, you'll see bags of zip-locked money sitting in army helicopters, and little unicorn stickers on automatic weapons. All of these things help to tell a story but are never actually explained, they just make the film feel more real and allows you, as the audience, to fill in the gaps yourself.
Putting the white-washing casting choices aside, you can't fault any of the performances with Tina Fey showing she can act without having to do the whole ugly-crying-I’m-a-serious-actor-now thing. Martin Freeman gives Malcolm Tucker a run for his money as the sweary-Glaswegian love-interest along with lots of great, intelligent supporting cast members including Margot Robbie, Alfred Molina and that guy from Home and Away that has the fake drawn on tattoos. However the word intelligent is an important distinction here as opposed to other films like American Sniper, because instead of generalising Afghanistan-culture or succumbing to xenophobic stereotypes, the film tackles aspects of the culture in a fair and balanced manner. It's not perfect, but at least it's not dumbing everything down to “terrorist”/"not-terrorist."
Overall, it’s funnier that Fey’s last film Sisters and is not trying to provide answers to the conflict in Afghanistan or the cultural differences between America and Afghanistan. It’s a funny, sweary, two hours of your life that has the scenes to make it both a drama and a comedy. It’s one of those films that probably won’t stick with you too long after leaving the cinema, but at least you’ll have fun while you’re there, along with discover a whole new combination of swear words you never knew existed.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot gets Three out of Five Stars (or Three out of Five Donkey -R****g-P**s-E****g-S**t-G******g-Pieces-Of-C**k-Swaddle)
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