It’s a slow time on the movie front but I did manage to get out to see Tina Fey’s latest. I am glad I did. Fey is of course one of the very best comic actors and writers in the business and it is nice to see her spread her wings a bit and venture into a bit more serious material. She is unbelievably comfortable on camera and delivers her lines so naturally and easily you get a feeling that most were shot in one take.
In “WTF” she plays fledgling reporter Kim Baker who draws the short straw and gets sent to the “lesser” war in Afghanistan. Her comic chops are put to work in the chaotic frenzy of this foreign land. The work is of course dangerous and the insane people who volunteer to take such assignments treat themselves to some serious partying as a reward.
The cast is solid with the wonderful Alfred Molina playing a horny Afghan official who provides Kim with leads for stories. Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Fargo TV series) is surprisingly cast as an Irish correspondent and love interest and it works! Margot Robbie delivers a solid performance as a seasoned war correspondent and competitor for stories as well as men. If you ever wondered what happened to “The Good Wife”‘s WillCan you come over and straighten out my kitchen? Happy New Year! (Josh Charles), he turns up here as Kim’s stateside boyfriend. Josh is onscreen all of about 60 seconds and you wonder why he was cast at all. This could be another’s example of a career going downhill after bailing on a TV series. Special mention goes to Billy Bob Thornton who expertly plays a Marine General with whom the press is embedded.
“Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot” is a well made movie. It is well written, excellently filmed with solid performances throughout. Don’t look for any Oscar nominations here, but if you want to be entertained for a few hours and see Tina Fey move beyond comedy for awhile it will be well worth your time.
