The war in Afghanistan is the setting of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the title being a military phonetic alphabet version of WTF, which sets the tone of the piece immediately.  It’s kind of “MASH meets the 21st century,” with journalism and ambition the focus rather than medical matters.  An unlikely reporter, Kim Baker (Tina Fey), volunteers to cover the war to change her life and shake things up.  It changes her, of course, in ways she could never have imagined.

As directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the film is a brief travelogue of a place and culture completely alien to our own, yet its main focus is how the English-speaking journalists there try to make the best of things, which mainly involves drinking, doing drugs, having sex and occasionally risking one’s life to get a hot story.  Everything is dangerous, which only increases the libido.  The military types (led by Billy Bob Thornton, who’s terrific) resent the journalists, even as they realize that good press can aid with their budgets.  And the natives, of course, have no use for anybody not of their own clans.  It’s a volatile situation, casually explored in between the drunken binges.

I have little doubt that this movie presents a realistic view of things overseas, yet it largely failed to move me.  Kim Baker rarely seems to be much of a journalist, and the “fish out of water” scenario runs pretty thin awfully quickly.  Baker’s offhand quips, a la Tina Fey, are amusing, but they distract from the grimmer aspects of the story.  The language used, especially by Fey and Margot Robbie as a rival journalist, is as bad as any locker room.  Its dark humor is never as amusing as it thinks it is, and wisdom is in short supply as well.

I must confess, however, that the film has cemented one belief in my mind.  A scene has Tina Fey and Martin Freeman very discreetly holding hands in a market; an Afghan woman sees them, brandishes something to disengage them and curses at them for their pernicious attitudes.  Now I have certainly known that other cultures differ from our own, in ways both good and bad.  But this incident cemented in my mind the idea that people from different places, origins, cultures or religions will never, ever, ever be fully at peace with each other; it’s an impossible dream.  All the stuff, much of it nonsense, that was hammered into our brains as children will never allow all of us to live on the same planet without rancor, dispute or war.  We will always have differences of opinion, of belief, that will separate us.  Always and forever.  So thank you for that, WTF.  Now I can finally give up my dreams for world peace.

Life goes on.  Kim Baker returns to America and gets an on-air position on a major news channel.  The war continues.  The movie ends and we return to whatever interests we have in our own lives, some of it likely involving drink, drugs or sex.  At least for the viewers there’s always another movie to look forward to.  The return of those nasty aliens in Independence Day: Resurgence, perhaps, or maybe the next stupid Will Ferrell comedy.  We can leave Afghanistan and its thorny problems behind.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  28 March 2016.