Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Tina Fey is Tina Fey in this movie. I loved the fact that she didn't pretend to be anything else. Westerners behaved like westerners in this movie.

Many war films try to sell you the emotional experience of a war. This is an American woman's story in Afganistan. Her world is other people like her and one slim contact with the world that she was in. Yes the movie is self-centered. Let's not bullshit ourselves into thinking we can be a whole lot more than that.

A real gem of a film that you shouldn't miss. I saw the trailer and immediately felt the need to see though I had my reservations about Tina Fey in a black comedy/drama film. Guess what! Tina surprised me with her performance (not acting-wise, but presence-wise). I know this doesn't make any sense, but picture an actress shining in a movie without an over the top performance, not an easy job to do. Whether Tina has grown to be great at many genres OR the movie was simply destined for her real life character.

The story-telling and events flow like nobody's business and the representation of Afghan People in the movie is beyond great. The movie balances between realistic approaches and the mainstream Hollywood agendas.

I really recommend this film to all kinds of viewers.

W.T.F. is a movie which tries to belong in too many genres simultaneously, including Comedy, Drama, Romance, War, Action, Documentary, and has a statement to make about pretty much everything including long-distance relationships, politics, professionalism, cultural differences etc. etc.

Without excelling in any of that, it manages to be a well balanced movie in the 110 minutes of its duration.

Tina Fey plays Kim Barker, a real person and an actual journalist, who is dissatisfying from her career covering low profile stories, and decides to go to Afghanistan as a war correspondent for a few months, or so she thought...

The movie has a good structure. It starts as a comedy, something you might expect because of the main actress, but soon the situations become real and more dramatic.

The rest of the cast includes well known actors like Alfred Molina, Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman and Margot Robbie.

Overall: Don't expect a comedy because of Tina Fey. It starts like that but it evolves to other genres really quick. It might not be a great movie but it's not boring and you get something out of the inner journey of the protagonist. How easy is to feel unnatural situations as normal when you are a long way from home...

I am impressed. This is one of the few films which has inspired me to read the source material; the autobiography by the journalist Kim Baker..

The film starts with comic moments as greenhorn middle-America Kim Baker (Tina Fey) arrives in a war zone. Then, the film darkens as it touches on the corruption of the expatriate community and the seduction of war reporting.

Surprisingly, Tina Fey can act in a dramatic role. Being comic with a straight face, facing danger, fending off romeos, and falling in love. In the end, Kim Baker rediscovers herself and returns home.

The film deals superficially with the horror faced by Afghan civilians and the root causes of the insurgency. However, this is the story of a white woman in a foreign land.

Overall, the film was predictable but lightly touches the soul. Credit to the editor for walking the difficult line between entertainment and horror. The rest of the cast did a creditable job.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" (2016 release; 111 min.) brings the story ("Based on a True Story" we are reminded) of Kim Baker (played by Tina Fay.. As the movie opens, we see Baker in a heated argument with an Afghani man. Then we go "Two Years Earlier", where Baker, looking miserable, is in a team meeting for some news outfit. When told that there is a shortage of TV journalists in Afghanistan, Baker does not hesitate, and she volunteers, supposedly for a three month assignment. Next thing, we see Baker arrive at the Kabul Airport. At this point we are at most 10 minutes into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is the big screen adaptation of the book "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan" by real-life TV reporter Kim Barker (not sure why in the movie the names becomes "Baker"). The movie is the latest for directing team Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who previously brought us "Crazy Stupid Love" and "Focus", among others. Here, they, along with producers Lorne "SNL" Michaels and Tina Fay herself, try to give us a glimpse of what it was like for an inexperienced journalist to come to Afghanistan in 2003 and report on the war. The early past of the movie shows us how Baker is adjusting to her new environment, and what a shock to the system it is indeed. Along the way we get to know fellow journalist Tanya Vanderpoel, (played by up-and-coming Australian actress Margot Robbie who also was in "Focus"). But the movie really takes off in the second hour (no worries, I won't spoil). Incredibly, Google Movie Times bills this as a 'comedy', and IMDb categorizes it as "Comedy, War". Please note: this is NOT a comedy. If you are going to see this, expecting many laugh-out-loud moments as only Tina Fey the comedian can bring them you are going to be sorely disappointed and let down. Sure, there are a few good chuckles early on as Baker/Fey adjusts to life in Afghanistan, but that's it. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is a journalistic war drama, period. Not sure whether it is the producers or the studio who are pushing this as a 'comedy' but that is a grave mistake. Besides Fey and Robbie, there are many other fine performances, including Billy Bob Thornton in a small role as a Marine Corps General. Last but bot least, there is a lot of great music in the film, including the original score, courtesy of Nick "DeVotchKa" Urata, and also a bunch of song placements, such as Radiohead's "Nude", the National's "Green Gloves" and Harry Nillson's "Without You", which I will never listen to the same way again, seeing how it was used in this movie. Bottom line: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is a fine movie, shouldered by Tina Fey NOT being funny.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" was released nationwide this weekend. The Sunday matinée screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was not attended well, I am sad to report. Apparently it underperformed elsewhere too, grossing only $7 million, far below expectations. That is a darn shame. I blame both the (intentional or not) mislabeling of this as a 'comedy' when it is nothing near that, and/or fatigue among US audiences on seeing movies about the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. Regardless, I enjoyed "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" a lot for what it is (journalistic war drama). If you have a chance to catch this, be it in theaters, on Amazon Instant Video or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, I strongly encourage you to do so as this movie deserves a bigger audience. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!