Grade: C
Tina Fey’s latest starring vehicle, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” is much less “wtf” and much more “meh.” Although “Mike Echo Hotel” isn’t nearly as catchy, it would have been a far more accurate title for the messy, intermittently entertaining dramedy.
Based on journalist Kim Barker’s book “The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Fey’s big screen adaptation follows Kim Barker as she leaves her mundane New York existence and travels to Afghanistan as a war correspondent.
Thus begins a story spanning three years, during which Barker bumbles her way through Kabul in the usual white-woman-makes-a-fool-of-herself way. Falling in with a group of fun-loving reporters, Barker quickly learns that in “The Kabubble” journalists work hard and party harder.
Let’s get one thing straight, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” is not a comedy.
Was it supposed to be? I honestly don’t know. It’s not a drama either, and instead of combining the two genres, it ends up missing both entirely.
This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy myself — just like its comedic aspects clash with moments of dramatic intensity, the good parts of “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” can’t reconcile with the bad, leaving me unsatisfied but not altogether unhappy about the film as a whole.
Let’s get into the good parts. Tina Fey is an underrated leading lady, and while her writing is arguably her most highly valued professional trait, she brings a wit and sarcasm to her acting that renders her compulsively entertaining. Even when faced with the likes of rising star Margot Robbie, Fey is the most watchable person in the room.
The supporting cast is very well compiled, despite some notable exceptions that we’ll get into in a moment. Robbie breathes some much needed energy into dull moments, and Martin Freeman is oddly but perfectly cast as a charming Scottish asshole who ends up falling into bed with Fey’s character.
“Bilbo Baggins?” you say. “A leading love interest?”
I’m telling you, it works. As Fey recently put it on “The Tonight Show,” “I like ‘em fun sized.” Billy Bob Thornton is also great in a brief but perfectly cast turn as a marine officer who has no patience for the bumbling journalist with whom he’s been saddled.
The best supporting performance came courtesy of Christopher Abbott, who I’ve been aware of since his run on “Girls” and a fan of since his breakout in last year’s devastating “James White.” Abbott played Fahim, Barker’s Afghan fixer/translator, and therein lies my problem.
Abbott is white, and so is Alfred Molina, who was cast as the other main Afghan character. Hollywood has been whitewashing movies for so long that I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but I expected more from Fey and Co.
Sure, Abbott was fantastic in the role, but he wasn’t so mind-blowing that he transcends race. It’s a small enough part that casting an unknown Afghan actor wouldn’t have hurt anything, and judging by the sub-par box office results, maybe it would have helped.
That said, the supporting characters were overall very entertaining, which left me with what I like to call the “Orange is the New Black” effect. This is what happens when a strong, humorous, diverse (though not so much in this case) supporting cast is largely ignored in favor of a far more boring and often annoying main character.
Rather than focusing on Barker’s “white woman screws everything up” plotline, I would rather have spent more time fleshing out the other characters. I realize that’s a little difficult in a movie based on someone’s life, but that’s just how I felt. If they made a “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” buddy-film sequel about the adventures of Tall Brian and Fahim, I’d be the first one in line.
Most of the biggest laughs in my theater were prompted by mistranslations of Afghan phrases; for example, Barker is screamed at to “Cover yourself, shameless whore!” which Fahim translates as “Welcome to Afghanistan!” If that joke sounds familiar, it’s probably because you saw the trailer.
If you saw the trailer, you saw just about every funny joke in the movie.
I wouldn’t have minded the dearth of humor if the dramatic scenes had packed more of a punch, but the low-stakes plotlines surrounding Barker’s airtime and love life failed to keep my interest.
Again, it wasn’t that I necessarily disliked the movie — I was entertained, and I’d maybe even rent it again. There were just a lot of aspects that should have been handled better.
“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” keeps telling us there is a war being fought, but very little time is spent showing us that war. Despite constant reminders that Afghanistan is a crumbling nation, the film is hung up on the problems of a bunch of white journalists. While that narrative could have worked if done in the right tone, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” can’t find it’s groove.
Just go see “Spotlight” again.
