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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Movie Review

ByChiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Mar 1, 2016

Title: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Director: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Starring: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina, Nicholas Braun, Sheila Vand, Steve Peacocke, Evan Jonigkeit, Scott Takeda, Josh Charles.

The Ficarra-Requa duo is back. After gathering praise and success with movies such as ‘I Love You Philip Morris,’ ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love,’ and ‘Focus,’ the two directors decided to adapt for the screen the exceptional story of war correspondent Kim Barker.

‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ is based on the book ‘The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days In Afghanistan And Pakistan’ by Kim Barker and it is Tina Fey who plays the American correspondent covering the war in Afghanistan. To enhance the narrative, screenwriter Robert Carlock introduced a fictional romance between Kim and Scottish photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman), along with a friendship-rivalry with the colleague Tanya (Margot Robbie). The result is a very effective war comedy, where a few moments of humour relieve the tension of the dramatic warfare.

The cast is very harmonious in blending in the scenery, taking a step back and leaving the forestage to the combat that is being reported by the journalists. Tina Fey, is remarkable in this dramatic role: she abandons the pasquinade acting we are accustomed to seeing her do in ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketches or ‘30 Rock,’ as she profoundly depicts Kim Barker’s character. Margot Robbie is just as enticing, playing a nuanced and adorably reprehensible character.

‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ does not explore the bloodshed of war alone, it shows how human relationships get affected and addicted to it. Journalists get high on what becomes newsworthy and their reckless actions attract all the dangers related to a war scene. The movie is therefore enlightening not only on the political conflict, but in the way it is within the very nature of mankind – no matter the profession, religion, nationality or gender – that lies the root of chaos.

Technical: B

Acting: A

Story: B+

Overall: A-

Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Movie Review
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, is a film critic, culture and foreign affairs reporter, screenwriter, film-maker and visual artist. She studied in a British school in Milan, graduated in Political Sciences, got her Masters in screenwriting and film production and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Chiara’s “Material Puns” use wordplay to weld the title of the painting with the materials placed on canvas, through an ironic reinterpretation of Pop-Art, Dadaism and Ready Made. She exhibited her artwork in Milan, Rome, Venice, London, Oxford, Paris and Manhattan. Chiara works as a reporter for online, print, radio and television and also as a film festival PR/publicist. As a bi-lingual journalist (English and Italian), who is also fluent in French and Spanish, she is a member of the Foreign Press Association in New York, the Women Film Critics Circle in New York, the Italian Association of Journalists in Milan and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean. Chiara is also a Professor of Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts at IED University in Milan.

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