Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

What a waste of my time!!!

Am I Missing Something?

Absolutely brilliant

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

I remember seeing trailers and commercials for WTF. Turns out, they did one of my pet peeves: billed a serious movie as a comedy. It's not.The movie follows the story of Tina Fey's character; the situations are real, the people seem real. Some reviewers thought it was satirical, or made a statement - I found it as realistic as anything I've seen on the news or anywhere else. It's just ... real, and because of this, it's really good. Tina Fey does a great job in a pretty serious role.Considering it? Give it a shot. Just don't expect SNL or 30 Rock.

This movie was FAR better than I expected, Tina Fey, always good, was great, Martin Freeman was super watchable, Billy Bob Thornton looked better than I've seen him in years, and (can't believe I'm saying this) Margot Robbie did an excellent job portraying reporters not as seekers of the truth, which they aren't, but as vain, self-absorbed, opportunists more than willing to put others in harm's way if it gets their station a ratings bump. On a side note, heckuva depiction of ME for what most of it is, people with no desire for modernity. They're backwards, and they like it. We should get out of there.

2003. Kim Baker is a writer at a TV news network in New York. The network needs a reporter in Afghanistan and, as her career has stalled and her life is in a rut, she (apprehensively) takes the job. Nothing could have prepared her for life in Kabul and what she'll see and experience - she is truly a duck out of water. Over time, however, she adapts and even thrives. More than thrives, she seems to live for the danger and excitement, a fact that not only endangers her own life but that of her colleagues too.I didn't have great expectations before watching this. While Tina Fey's TV work is superb (30 Rock, SNL) her movies often miss the mark, ending up lightly entertaining, at best. So, was expecting a light comedy and nothing much in the way of drama.Turns out the movie is very funny, and, even better, often darkly so. The humour is often presented in dramatic or very plausible situations, so doesn't feel forced, feeling more like a candid view of people in a war zone. That's the beauty of the movie - it's as much a drama as a comedy, and the comedy stems from the drama, rather than existing in a vacuum.On the drama side, the situation in Afghanistan is very realistically portrayed, without shirking from the events and issues involved. While the press attempt to make the most of their situation and live it up, attempting to shut themselves off from their surrounds, the threat of violence and death is never far away. There is a fatalism hanging over the movie which makes it even the more engaging and compelling.Not perfect though. I felt that, while a good and often funny story, it didn't really make a profound point in the end. The conclusion seemed quite flat, especially after what came before.Overall: a great blend of comedy and drama.

This comedy wasn't full of laughs, but it didn't tell much of a story either. It simply drifted. The soundtrack forces the movie to read as a romantic comedy, and is oddly pensive and optimistic at moments when people are being gunned down. Perhaps the film was actually meant to be a romantic comedy. Despite being about an independent female reporter in Afghanistan, the most interesting storyline is Kim's relationship with Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). I did enjoy how as the movie progressed, the once scary and threatening Afghanistan had turned into "home" for Kim.