Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’—Tina Fey Goes to War

maxresdefaultTrue story? Up to a point…

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT is based loosely on New York Times reporter Kim Barker‘s 2011 non-fiction book ‘The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan.’

Uh, very loosely.

Because in real life Barker was a print journalist working for the Chicago Tribune, while in this film she plays a cable network TV reporter.

On screen the 40-something journalist is portrayed by Tina Fey as a fish-out-of-water who’s bored with her desk job in the news room. So when the boss asks for volunteers without family and kids to cover the Afghanistan conflict, Fey raises her hand.

It would be her chance to finally shine in FRONT of the camera.

So with no combat coverage experience, Fey throws herself into the assignment ignorant of any protocol.

Billy Bob Thornton plays the commanding officer into whose unit Fey is being embedded. His biggest worry is that she not have sex with his men—making for some funny confrontations.

tumblr_inline_nzij1iouYq1shsvef_500And then there’s sexy reporter Margot Robbie (from The Wolf of Wall Street) who got to the war area before Tina did and shows her the ropes—AND HOW!

Yet returning to New York City after two years in the Middle East leaves Fey’s life empty.

Guess you can’t always get what you want.

Or CAN YOU?

The movie zig zags all over the place as it attempts to find a balance between drama and comedy.

Could there have been more to it? Probably. But that’s more than I can say about a number of other films I’ve seen of late.

However in the end I left the theater feeling satisfied.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, co-produced by Tina Fey and SNL’s Lorne Michaels and also featuring Martin Freeman and Alfred Molina.

The dreamed gets a: B- grade

(Reviewed at Alamo Mainstreet Theatre)

JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM, KMBZ.

http://www.mb-kc.com/
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