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In WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, Tina Fey plays a journalist sent to Afghanistan in 2003 when the more-experienced war correspondents flock to the new battlefields of Iraq. Produced by Fey and loosely based on reporter Kim Barker’s memoir “The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” the film continues Fey’s pursuit of more dramatic roles, a less-than-stellar quest so far that might cause some audience members to balk at this one. However, WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT is the exception to that rule – actually a very entertaining film, thanks largely to a strong supporting cast that includes Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfred Molina, who take the pressure off Fey.
In case any one is in doubt, WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (meaning WTF – get it?) is not a hard-hitting war movie or even really about war, but a tale of war reporters and the unreality of reporting from a war zone, a movie that leans more towards “MASH” than “The Killing Fields.” This dramedy is an “absurdity of life in a war zone” tale that has its share of loss and danger too. The story takes place in Afghanistan but there is so little about that war, that it could have been set in any number of wars. No, the subject of this real-life inspired story is war journalists, not war.
The story takes place as the Iraq War is starting, during which fighting (and news coverage) in Afghanistan reduced to a slow simmer, and ends before that situation really changes. With the Iraq invasion, the cable news organization where Kim Baker (Fey) works as a copy writer/producer is put in a bind. Their best war reporters are being sent to cover the new war so they are desperate for someone – anyone – to report from Afghanistan on that war. Her boss assembles all “the unmarried staff without children” – a description that prompts one staffer to burst into tears – and asks for a volunteer. Kim volunteers, in an almost off-handed WTF way. Fey offers little reason why, beyond a vague comment about boredom.
Kim arrives in Kabul a pretty unprepared. She did think to buy a headscarf and brand-new cargo pants, but also brings along a bright orange duffle bag for her gear – a perfect target for a sniper. Arriving at the windblown airport, she meets Marine Col. Hollanek, a tart ramrod officer with whom she will work as an embedded reporter, her Afghan translator/driver/“fixer” Fahim (Christopher Abbott, in a surprisingly touching performance) and her hunky bodyguard Nic (Stephen Peacocke). The streets are dusty, crowded, and an unpleasant stench fills the air, as she is driven to her hotel, which it turns out, is a hang-out for an international collection of Western reporters, photographers and their security guards, and the site of an ongoing party that seems to run through the whole film (playing the same dance song throughout).
The reserved Kim is quickly introduced to the wild and unreal ways of Westerners living in Kabul – or as one character calls it, the Ka-bubble. She meets Tall Brian (Nicholas Braun), the young photographer assigned to her, and is quickly befriended by beautiful British TV journalist Tanya Vanderpoel (Margot Robbie). Tanya gives Kim the basics – if you were a “four” back home you are a “ten” in Kabul, and people feel free to invent new identities for themselves here – and introduces Kim to her circle of friends, including wild man Scottish war photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman).
Kim’s first embedded experience, under Col. Hollanek’s command, that erupts in gun-fire and sends her running into the action with camera in hand. She is immediately hooked on the adrenaline rush. As she adapts to life as a war reporter and the crazy world of Westerners in Kabul, her natural reserve and cautiousness gives way to her own kind of crazy.
Co-directors Glenn Ficara and John Requa, and script writer Robert Carlock (“30 Rock”) keep the focus on the characters and the unreal world that envelopes them living in a war zone where what seems like insanity back home gradually becomes what passes for normal.
What makes WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT worthwhile largely are the supporting performances, particularly Martin Freeman. Freeman radiates such a quirky charm and creates such an appealing, believable character that he lifts Fey’s thin performance. The film really takes off with the introduction of Freeman’s Iain, a charismatic photographer with a bad-boy reputation, who lights up the film with snappy dialog and just the right reaction to every line and situation.
Other cast members also do their bit, which allows Fey to just be the figure around which all this madness rotates. Although he has done this kind of role before, Thornton is striking and hits all the right notes as the slightly put-upon, gruff military commander Hollanek. Alfred Molina is very good as Ali Massoud Sadiq, a shadowy, slippery Afghan official who takes a liking to Fey’s character. Abbott is a charmer as the translator Fahim, exuding a sweet appeal as a proper Muslim fellow who truly cares about Fey’s character, trying to keep her out of danger, and later warning her when she is losing her bearings in the Ka-bubble. As Tanya, Robbie finds the right balance for someone who is both Kim’s friend and her competitor. Other good performances are delivered in smaller roles by Sheila Vand and Cherry Jones.
That is a lot of good acting and likable performances backing up Fey, who does just fine because she does not try to do too much. Although the film does say much, if anything, on the Afghan war, it does draw viewers into the unreal life of these people working in a war zone, and balances the mix of dark comic and dramatic portions well. Apart from its lack of comment on war, the film’s major shortcoming is its score, with a particularly odd choice of a sappy ballad for a sequence that represents the dramatic peak.
Overall, it is the characters who make WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT entertaining. Although Freeman is getting a bit more recognition with his excellent role as Dr. Watson in the “Sherlock Holmes” television show, he is still an underrated actor. In this film, Freeman is so good, he elevates both the material and his co-star. Hopefully next time, he will be the one with top billing.
OVERALL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT opens in theaters March 4th, 2016.
