‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ review: Tina Fey covers the Afghanistan War

War is hell, but the parties are killer in “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” starring Tina Fey as a deskbound journalist who throws caution to the wind and volunteers to report on the war in Afghanistan. Based on Kim Barker’s 2011 memoir, “The Taliban Shuffle,” the movie presents the stories of two crises — one personal, one international — but both get superficial treatment.

A New York Times review of Barker’s book noted, “She depicts herself as a sort of Tina Fey character,” and lo, it has come to pass in the film version. Baker (no longer Barker, oddly) is a perfect role for Fey, who excels at playing the intelligent, ambitious, attractive everywoman. On the hottie scale, Baker may be a 6 in New York, but she’s a rare 9 in Kabul, says Tanya Vanderpoel, a stunning blond anchor played by Margot Robbie. Fey reacts to this with an expression of dignified humiliation; her beleaguered persona remains endearing even as the movie tests our patience.

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” spells out a salty acronym that signifies general bafflement. That’s Baker’s default mode as she attempts to navigate Afghanistan’s restrictive culture, her colleagues’ permissive sexuality and the unwanted advances of eccentric power broker Ali Massoud Sadiq (an excellent Alfred Molina). Billy Bob Thornton is enjoyable as a Marine colonel whose attempts to help the locals almost literally blow up in his face.

Vignettes and observations can carry a memoir, but they don’t add up to a movie-quality narrative. Robert Carlock’s script tries to compensate by linking several small subplots. One involves a lukewarm romance with Scottish photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman, miscast as a hard-drinking womanizer). Elsewhere, Baker faces various moral dilemmas and dire emergencies that feel contrived. Only Baker’s friendship with her dedicated fixer, Fahim (Christopher Abbott), strikes a note of genuine emotion.

Directed in a scattershot style by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and co-produced by Lorne Michaels, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” treats the Afghanistan War with a level of sensitivity but offers no new insights. Nor does it make us care much about Baker. “That’s the most American-white-lady story I’ve ever heard,” one character tells her, and it’s hard not to agree.