Tina Fey does it again. My wife is in her thirties and would usually never suggest a war based film for us to see. Last night she requested we see this movie and she called it, “The new Tina Fey movie.” I suppose Fey is a brand now and a pretty good one at that.
as Kim Baker
as Tanya Vanderpoel
as Iain MacKelpie
Comedy, War
Rated R
1h 52min
Let’s be clear from the start, this movie has many flaws. The screen jumps around and has more holes that need explaining than a block of Swiss cheese. Tina Fey is brilliant however and she interprets this real life story quite well. It’s a story of a reporter who finds herself single and lacking at 40 something. As a result, she signs on to do a story among soldiers in Afghanistan.
Through the course of her “tour” she meets friends and enemies and an elected official who wants to bed her. It’s all quite hilarious. She is bamboozled by an English female reporter and it taints her happy view of the place. After getting stories on video and partying as much as a college pledge, she makes some decisions about what life is for her and it doesn’t include Afghanistan.
The jokes are typical Tina Fey: short, witty, and usually news related. It would be fun to hear the real Kim Barker and see how much they do or don’t sound alike. Tina Fey is like a military playboy, only she’s a woman. At one point she says, “You mean I almost F****d a Canadian?” Lines like this come off as a little gauche but it seems these days a film has to have a little of that to keep the viewers laughing.
In conclusion, it’s a funny film that would be a great date movie for many fans out there. The war connection is held at a distance and it’s more of a mythic journey film for a woman who is questioning her purpose. I even detected hints of “Eat, Pray, Love” in there sometimes. I recommend this as a fun, light hearted date movie.
9/10
