"WTF" couldn't be a more appropriate title.
The latest Tina Fey vehicle, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," is impressive only in the sense that it tries to be three different movies at once, and fails at every single one. It's a complete tonal hodgepodge: a mess of a movie that manages to be both distinctly awful and instantly forgettable.
The paper-thin plot revolves around a bored New York broadcast reporter named Kim Barker (Fey), who's assigned to cover the war in Afghanistan. Based on a true "story" that takes place in the mid 2000s, the film essentially has no plot.
The majority of the film is devoted to Barker shadowing marines and traveling throughout Afghanistan, trying to tell relevant stories so she can get some air time on her network. This would be fine, interesting in fact, if directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa didn't fumble the tone every other scene.
Beginning with slapstick comedy and quippy interviews, it's clear the film is trying to be a fish-out-of-water comedy. A couple of jokes, especially one early montage of Barker interviewing soldiers, stand out as genuine comedic moments.
But a plethora of predictable gags dominate this portion of the film, proving screenwriter Robert Carlock's script certainly doesn't hold up as a comedy.
Fine, so if the comedy doesn't work, maybe the drama will, right? Not even close. After the film passes about the half hour mark, all joking ceases to exist and the film attempts to become a social commentary about women's' roles in Afghanistan's culture. This aspect of the film is undoubtedly the most interesting, but still manages to come off as underdeveloped. Barker is a strong, confident journalist, and the juxtaposition between her and the socially oppressive culture in Afghanistan is a fascinating dynamic.
Still, the problem comes when Ficarra and Requa try to establish that aspect of Barker. The laziness in identifying Barker as a tough journalist and the tameness in addressing the issue of women's oppression in Afghanistan (a topic only brushed over), make the overall experience of this film infuriating to digest.
The whole experience of this film is extremely bizarre. It wants to be a romantic war dramedy, but doesn't have the wit to make the comedy work, the screen time to make the drama work, or the emotional investment in the characters to make the romance work. The cast tries really hard, and supporting players like Martin Freeman and Christopher Abbott provide surprisingly nuanced performances as Barker's friends and co-workers.
Reach Staff Reporter Joseph Salvato here.
Annenberg Media