Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

A journalist recounts her wartime coverage in Afghanistan.

Directors:

Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Writers:

Robert Carlock (screenplay by), Kim Barker (based on the book "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan" by)

Stars:

Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tina Fey	...	Kim Baker
Margot Robbie	...	Tanya Vanderpoel
Martin Freeman	...	Iain MacKelpie
Alfred Molina	...	Ali Massoud Sadiq
Christopher Abbott	...	Fahim Ahmadzai
Billy Bob Thornton	...	General Hollanek
Nicholas Braun	...	Tall Brian
Stephen Peacocke	...	Nic
Sheila Vand	...	Shakira Khar
Evan Jonigkeit	...	Specialist Coughlin
Fahim Anwar	...	Jaweed
Josh Charles	...	Chris
Cherry Jones	...	Geri Taub
Scott Takeda	...	Ed Faber
Eli Goodman	...	Tucker Wang

Storyline

2003. After careful consideration, Kim Baker, a news copywriter, decides to leave the relative comfort of a New York desk job and serious boyfriend Chris to accept the assignment to work for three months as on-camera reporter in war torn Afghanistan, as her news agency is looking for anyone within their ranks to fill immediately the empty voids overseas. Her only experience of being in such an environment is going through hostile zone training a few years earlier. Immediately upon her arrival in Afghanistan, she realizes that she is ill-prepared emotionally for this assignment, not only enduring the dangers of the war itself, but also the conditions of everyday life, including largely been seen by men as only a "piece of ass" and a distraction despite her being considered average looking back home and not being overtly sexual, and being an individual with a small bladder who is nonetheless told to stay hydrated at all times. She is largely assisted in navigating this new life by Tanya...

---

Plot Keywords:

afghanistan | journalist | war on terrorism | kabul afghanistan | frenchman | 

---

Taglines:

From the headlines to the front lines

---

Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content, drug use and violent war images

Did You Know?

Trivia

The words "whiskey," "tango," and "foxtrot" stand for the letters W, T, and F in the international NATO Phonetic Alphabet, a military and law-enforcement system for clearly spelling out words and phrases during radio and other audio transmissions."WTF" is an early 21st Century abbreviation for "What the Fuck?" It has also become a popular title for network television shows that are otherwise prevented by their networks' standards and practices departments from the outright use of the word "fuck". TV shows including The Good Wife, NCIS, Jake 2.0, and Scandal have all titled episodes "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot".

---

Goofs

When Kim rides the exercise bike at the gym, the televisions showing news coverage are flat panels. In 2003, flat panel displays were rare, and too expensive for most gyms.

---

Quotes

Kim Baker: What are we talking about, Fahim?
Fahim Ahmadzai: The human body produces its own heroin. In fact, when the fight-or-flight instinct is activated in the hypothalamu, your body releases endorphins, dopamine and norepinephrine. That is heroin, cocaine and amphetamine, all at once.
Kim Baker: Okay, great. Are we having the Afghan version of this conversation, where in New York we would have gotten to the point, like, five minutes ago?
Fahim Ahmadzai: There is a reason to believe that a person can get addicted to this type of high. Soldiers, ...
[...]

---

Connections

References Jaws (1975)

---

Soundtracks

Fly Til We Die
Written by Geoff Siegel, Trevor Armstrong & Nik Frost
Performed by Ten Speed
Courtesy of Fundamental Music

User Reviews

Strong Satirical look at the Afghanistan conflict

One of the reasons that I write reviews of movies is that I hope to turn people on to good movies that might otherwise fly under their radar.

Such is my hope with Tina Fey's latest film WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT - a satirical view of the conflict in Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of a novice International reporter (Fey). What starts out as a funny and corny "fish out of water" movie, slowly morphs into a more serious film about the addictive nature of constantly being in a warzone situation.

Fey is perfectly cast as the central character - war correspondent Kim Baker - who heads to an overseas assignment in Afghanistan to escape a rather humdrum life. I was a little nervous, at first, as all the funny parts that were in the trailer were in the first 1/2 hour of this film - and Fey handles those with aplomb. She is a gifted comedienne, so these scenes looked effortless for her. It is her transition to a more serious reporter, addicted to the adrenaline of her job that Fey really shines. I was impressed with her serious work in THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU and was anxious when it looked like her career regressed with last December's SISTERS, but I'm happy to say she continues to grow as an actress and she is strong in this part.

But, this movie is more than just Fey. She has a very strong supporting cast around her - Martin Freeman as an Irish photographer, Margot Robbie (who continues to grow as an actress) as a friend/journalist competitor to Fey, Alfred Molina as an Afghanistan politician and newcomer (at least to me) Christoper Abbott as Fey's interpreter - they all bring something interesting to the table that helps this movie along.

Special mention should be made of Billy Bob Thornton's General Hollander - the US Commander in the region. While he does not have many scenes in the movie, he brings a presence that is heads and shoulders above everyone else when he is on screen. This fits well in this movie, for the Commanding General in that region should be heads and shoulders above the rest. He also gave me the best laugh in this movie (a joke I will not spoil here).

This movie is much, much more than a simple rom-com or military comedy, it is a Comedy/Drama that brings quite a bit of heart to it. I would strongly encourage you to seek this one out, you'll be glad you did.

8 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to Bank (of Marquis)

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Pushto Dari French

Release Date:

4 March 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Taliban Shuffle

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,450,275, 6 March 2016

Gross USA:

$23,083,334

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,972,139

Company Credits

Production Co:

Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1