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Tango with Tina

My love and admiration for Tina Fey is well documented. She is a brilliant comedy writer, making a name for herself on "Saturday Night Live" and creating one of the great television shows of the last several years ("30 Rock"). She penned the screenplay to one of the standout high school comedies ("Mean Girls") and was a three-peat knockout hosting the Golden Globes with Amy Poehler. I've even read her book "Bossypants" twice.

And yet, when Fey has a new movie coming out, I'm always a little apprehensive. Going into her new film, "Whiskey Tango Foxtroxt", I didn't know what to expect but I'm always blindly excited to see anything starring Fey. Her screen efforts are scattershot at best ("Date Night" remains a silly highlight, where she is perfectly paired with Steve Carell). Last year's "Sisters" only worked because of the pitch-perfect chemistry of Fey and Poehler.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" continues the mix-bag trend of Fey's filmography. Though I'm inching more towards "Date Night" then say "Admission", which is truly a dud, on her newest film, I still can't fully embrace it.

Fey stars as Kim Baker. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is loosely based on Kim Barker's (the film slightly alters the last name) memoir, "The Taliban Shuffle", which recounted her times as a reporter in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the film, Baker is seemingly bored with her life and volunteers to report from Afghanistan. She leaves her boyfriend (Josh Charles), for what is supposed to be three months.

When Baker arrives to Kabul, she realizes she may have gotten herself in a little over her head. She quickly befriends different journalists and freelancers, who help her assimilate into the crazy new life she has taken on. She becomes friends with Tanya (Margot Robbie) and a love interest of a photographer, Iain (Martin Freeman). Afghanistan becomes a scary place she is quickly comfortable in.

That's the thing - Afghanistan is exciting for Kim. She has a pulse and a purpose there. In her life before, she was simply going through the motions, sitting at a desk and eating leftovers. In Kabul, she is in the field reporting live by day and partying it up with the other reporters and locals she met at night.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is a frustrating film because we are given a wonderfully developed character and almost nothing feels at stake throughout the film. Watching Kim's evolution is the perfect way to show Fey as more than the comedy writer from "SNL", but the screenplay by frequent Fey-collaborator Robert Carlock often falls flat. Even one of the film's biggest conflicts feels like it is resolved a bit too easily. Kim is in Afghanistan, how can things feel so mundane?

Though I opened with a bit of a disclaimer on how much I like Fey and that I like her in just about anything, I must say she is truly at her best here. As Kim discovers a new life in Kabul, we see new sides of Fey as an actress. There is confidence mixed with vulnerability and Fey never hits a false note in her performance. Though I want her to keep making us laugh, I hope "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" opens more doors for her to show different sides. This is her film and her co-stars seem to know it. Billy Bob Thorton enters as a no-nonsense General and Alfred Molina rounds out the colorful supporting cast as a corrupt Afghani leader.

Gelnn Ficarra and John Requa direct "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot". Their previous movies - "Crazy Stupid Love" and "Focus" - all fall to the same fate that "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" does. They use their energy in spurts, leaving too many empty moments in a two-hour film. The only difference from their previous films? They didn't have Tina Fey.