Movie Brief: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Overall Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was good, mainly because it starred Tina Fey. I expected the film to be funny throughout, but instead it was more a dramedy.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is about Kim Barker (Tina Fey), a news reporter searching for something more in her life. The film is based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan written by Barker. The premise of Whisky Tango Foxtrot surrounds a woman who encounters numerous WTF moments in her life, personally and professionally. She has a boyfriend that she cares about, but barely sees. She has a job that she likes, but has grown boring. In an effort to shake things up, she decides to be a war correspondent in Afghanistan.

Fey’s character is a slight departure from the constant funny you would normally expect from the comedian, but her character still has the normal political and women’s rights commentary you would expect from her SNL days as the ‘Weekend Update Correspondent.’ In the film, Barker finds herself having to navigate a male dominated military culture, within another male dominated culture amongst the Muslim faith in Afghanistan.

When she encounters a new friend in a fellow journalist from Scotland (Martin Freeman), it makes Barker stronger and allows her to see things more clearly. She realizes that it is time to get back to the real world and move on with her life, which is what this movie is ultimately about – a woman who constantly has to adapt and find the strength to keep moving on.

It is a very interesting story that dragged just a bit, making the movie feel long, but in the end it was a good film worth a matinee watch on a Sunday afternoon.

Release date: Friday, March 4th

Image source: Paramount Pictures