Like Daniel Radcliffe always seeming a little like Harry Potter playing dress-up, each new Tina Fey project can play out like Liz Lemon fan fiction.
But her new film, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, looks like an extreme departure from her usual movie projects. Fey plays Kim Barker, a middle-aged woman in the midst of a career and personal life rut (okay, this part is classic Fey) who takes an assignment in Afghanistan. Suddenly Kim’s life is turned upside down.
"An American explores the Middle East" can get stuck in ugly stereotypes pretty quickly (see Homeland and its graffiti backlash). But it looks like Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is at least aware of that danger. In the trailer, after listening to Kim's Eat Pray Love reasons for taking the job abroad a woman declares, "That's the most American white lady story I've ever heard."
She definitely has a point.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot is scheduled to be released on March 4.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot is scheduled to be released on March 4.