Review of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) by Susan M — 19 Mar 2016

This is an excellent movie, and an unusual one in some ways. It is about a woman finding herself, and shockingly finding herself is not about finding the right man. It's about getting herself out of a rut.

It is also about the war in Afghanistan, or rather life in Afghanistan. Things that I loved about the movie: there was no grand evil vs good theme, instead one gets to see everyone living their crazy life - the journalists, the military, the Afghans, I also liked how many people were given a real character - Tina Fey, Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman, but also Big Brian and the solder who loses his legs, the interpreter, Billy Bob Thornton and so on.

I thought the acting was great, and I was surprised by Matthew Freeman. Finally, this is movie for middle aged people, in their 40s or even their 50s. This is not a chick flick with 22 year olds falling in love.

So if it is so great, why the mediocre ratings by the critics? I think there are two reasons. One is the chick flick rating system where movies for and about women tend to be scored poorly - for example, look at the star ratings by women and by men.

I predict that women will rate this a lot higher than men. Second, the movie doesn't fit neatly into a box. It's not a love story even though there is some romance in it. It's not a big adventure thriller even though there are some explosions.

And it's not a clear comedy, even though there are quite a few funny lines. In my book, that makes it a better movie, but others probably find unsettling. In sum: go see this! It's great.