Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Tina Fey is journalist Kim Baker, who gets an assignment to cover the supposedly final stages of the military conflict in Afghanistan. Initially completely out of her depth to the bemusement of Marine Gen. Hollanek (Billy Bob Thornton), Baker eventually settles into the gig, whilst also hanging out with friendly rival English journo Tanya (Margot Robbie) and particularly cheeky Scottish photojournalist. Alfred Molina turns up as a horny Afghan government official, Josh Charles plays Baker’s lover back home, Thomas Krestchmann has an amusing early cameo on a plane, and soap actor Stephen Peacocke plays Baker’s bodyguard.

I’ve liked Tina Fey on “SNL” and in interviews without finding her especially funny. She’s witty, of course but I wouldn’t say she’s ever made me bust a gut outside of her dead-on Sarah Palin impersonation. As co-producer and star of this 2016 adaptation of the non-fiction book by Kim Barker (yes, the real-life person and film version have slightly different names) I have to say she has disappointed me greatly here. Although she rarely disappears into a character (Palin being the exception), she’s clearly a smart woman, and this is a very, very dumb film as directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (The screenwriters of the amusing dark comedy “Bad Santa”). Whether Barker (who is actually a print journo, not a TV journo like her film counterpart), screenwriter Robert Carlock (A veteran TV writer of “SNL” and “30 Rock”), the directors, Fey (who, true to form, is basically playing Tina Fey), or some combination of all of them are to blame, all I can say is that the film takes a wrong-headed approach to something pretty serious and important. Basically, the film gives the Afghanistan conflict the “Eat Pray Love” treatment, only with an ill-suited humorous bent at times. I know reporters often think it’s all about them (I have a bit of time for Geraldo Rivera for instance, but his war/troops coverage often seems self-serving to me), but this character played by Fey is so obnoxiously self-absorbed and ‘me, me, me’ that it’s pretty facile and putrid to be honest. The whole ‘experiencing a life-changing moment’ thing just doesn’t belong in what is a very serious conflict (Not to mention I don’t think the character grows much. She loses a boyfriend, gets a little less ridiculously incompetent in her surroundings, but that’s all the changes I could ascertain). I mean, the war is far more important than your inability to find the designated shower, sweetie. Get your priorities straight for crying out loud. The sad thing? The film is far more interested in anything other than the war itself, of which we don’t learn all that much.

Meanwhile, the film may have been based on truth, but at no point was I convinced that this idiot would even be chosen for such an assignment let alone not die a horrible death within minutes. I just didn’t buy the film’s set up, which really is a big deal for a film. Frankly, the film’s sense of humour rubbed me the wrong way for the most part. It’s not entirely a comedy (especially not in the second half), and war and comedy can certainly mix quite well sometimes, but this war and this sense of humour are like oil and water. “Predator”-loving soldiers, and an Afghan who confuses an African American soldier for a Russian…look, do I even need to explain the issue here? It’s distasteful and ill-suited humour (and not remotely funny, either), and that’s before we get to the part where Fey needs to go to the toilet. Billy Bob Thornton’s character at least seems to understand the gravity of the situation here, which is probably why his few moments of humour are the only ones that work early on. However, it’s Martin Freeman as a randy Scot who proves to be the only truly memorable thing here. He also does the single worst karaoke version of ‘Take on Me’ that I’ve ever heard. He’s terrific, and despite an unconvincing English accent, Aussie actress Margot Robbie is OK too. Much, much less effective is Alfred Molina, who is usually reliable playing a whole array of different ethnicities, but here he’s playing a ridiculous, one-dimensional Middle Eastern stereotype straight out of a Sacha Baron Cohen film. I have a lot of time for Molina, but he should be ashamed of his work here (American actor Christopher Abbott, however fully convinced me. I had no idea he was American).

The film never gets around to working out if it wants to be taken remotely seriously or not, even as a comedy it seems to take place on a wacky, alternate planet Earth that just isn’t believable. The subject matter for me requires a more intelligent comedic approach if it’s gonna yuk it up, and intelligence doesn’t exist in this dojo I’m afraid. Instead, the film as I said takes an insipid “Eat Pray Love”-esque ‘woman’s picture’ approach to a Middle Eastern military conflict with occasional ‘wacky’ humour. By wacky, I mean awful, like Molina playing a randy ‘ol perve Afghan official, and the tired cliché of the younger and stereotypically hotter woman (Robbie) being cast as a duplicitous bitch. That shit has no business in a film about a violent conflict that is still ongoing (Ironic given the film has a House of Pain song being played at one point. Yeah, that’s fresh and hip isn’t it, yo?). Or if it does, it needs to be a lot smarter. I just can’t figure out how someone as clever as Tina Fey has yet to come across a script to match her. Even her own script for “Mean Girls” was a bit average. This tone deaf misfire is just awful. What a bomb, “M*A*S*H” this isn’t.

Rating: D