This weekend, Tina Fey hits theaters in Sisters as Kate, a hot mess of a woman who can’t quite get her life together, so decides to throw a rager at her parents’ house. On March 4, 2016, Fey will hit theaters in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot as Kim, a hot mess of a woman who can’t quite get her life together, so she decides to move to Afghanistan as a war reporter. Which is basically the same!
Adapted from actual person Kim Barker’s 2011 memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot follows Fey as she decides, seemingly on a whim, to “blow up” her life and move to Afghanistan to report on the war. As she explains in the trailer, she willingly left her life behind because “I wanted out of my job, I wanted out of my mildly depressive boyfriend.” Or, as her friend puts it,” the most American, white-lady reason I’ve ever heard.” Oh, and because her boss identified her as “unmarried and childless,” i.e., useless to American society.
The first trailer for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (which I can’t stop typing as “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” damn you, Wilco) dropped today, and it seems to do what Rock The Kasbah could not: Make war-torn Afghanistan seem funny. Fey is at her deadpan best, surrounded by and reacting to larger than life personalities; this is basically what it would look like if Liz Lemon were spontaneously dropped off in the Middle East and told to fend for herself. This particular version of Kabul doesn’t look too bad for Fey’s Kim, though: She gets to room with Margot Robbie, who’s a “15” in Afghanistan; she gets hit on by Alfred Molina; she gets glowered at by Billy Bob Thornton (a lifelong goal of mine); and she gets to make out with Martin Freeman. Of course, she also has to put her life on the line for her job, but that’s a bit glossed over here, because it’s less funny.
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa — the writing-directing duo behind the likes of Focus, Crazy Stupid Love, and Bad Santa — are co-directing this one from a script by Robert Carlock, who’s worked with Fey on everything from 30 Rock to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Translated: This will probably not suck.
