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A fey Fey fails to fix Afghanistan War comedy

You'd think an Afghanistan War comedy produced by former "Saturday Night Live" star Tina Fey and "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels would be at least a laugh riot.

That's certainly what the quick-cut trailers and commercials for "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" suggest.

But a female war correspondent best synopsizes the film when she says to Fey, "That's the most American white lady story I've ever heard!"

Fey plays Kim Baker, a middle-class news writer working for a New York TV network.

She wants out of her job.

She wants out of her relationship with a mildly depressive boyfriend (Josh Charles).

And she wants to blow things up.

So when her supervisor offers a war correspondent job to the childless, unmarried staff members, Kim grabs the opportunity instead of bursting into tears as one apparently sensitive peer does.

This scene is played for laughs, illustrating how co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa botch the juxtaposition of comic and dramatic elements in "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." (You might be tempted to utter the title's acronym during this movie, a complete "MASH"-up without the stinging satire, memorable characters and outrageous dark humor.)

Kim arrives in Kabul in 2003 and meets a lovable, gentle local named Farouk (white actor Christopher Abbott), a translator who becomes the story's conscience, if not her sympathetic mascot.

She also runs into Marine General Hollanek (Billy Bob Thornton), who bluntly warns her to stay away from his men.

As we quickly learn, the Kabul foreign correspondents compound crawls with uncorralled hormones like a frat house toga party.

Kim can't help but notice the hunky Nic (Stephen Peacocke), a muscular, tattooed security contractor hired to protect her.

Kim meets her broadcast competition, hot, promiscuous reporter Tanya (Margot Robbie), who tells Kim that she might be a mere "6" in New York, but here she gets a bump-up to at least a "9" or "a borderline 10."

"What are you?" Kim asks, "A 15?" Tanya replies, "Yeah."

Kim also meets Iain (Martin Freeman), a hound dog Scottish journalist, whose sleazy sexual come-ons and rampant narcissism would make him a "1" in America. Here, he must be at least a "9," judging by the speed at which Kim succumbs to his charmlessness.

Even Afghanistan's Prime Minister Sadiq (Alfred Molina in a black wig over a salt-and-pepper beard), wants Kim to be his "special friend" despite being in charge of the country's morals enforcement.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is based on Chicago Tribune reporter Kim Barker's memoir "The Taliban Shuffle."

Screenwriter Robert Carlock (a collaborator on the TV series "30 Rock") adapted the obviously augmented screenplay, which includes Kim blackmailing an official for a good cause while Iain utters lines such as "We always have Kabul!" and "No one can take that away from you!"

The affable Fey registers less gravitas than other popular comedians who've made the leap into more serious characters, such as Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer.

With Fey as the pivotal character here, the situations seldom resonate with danger, pulsate with dramatic tension, emanate animal passions or spur character-based laughs.

Then, the movie plays the Chipmunks' song "Christmas Don't Be Late," but on New Year's Eve in 2003. Really?

Wouldn't "Auld Lang Syne" be more appropriate?

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”

★ ★

Starring: Tina Fey, Martin Freeman, Margot Robbie, Alfred Molina, Billy Bob Thornton, Christopher Abbott

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Other: A Paramount Pictures release. Rated R for drug use, language, sexual situations, violence. 111 minutes

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