Paradox Project

Tagged: Tina Fey

Culture

‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ Is Un-PC and Loving It

If you don’t know the drill by now, you should. Kimmy Schmidt (played by Ellie Kemper) was kidnapped at age 14 by a crazy reverend who said he thought the world was ending. One of the Indiana “mole women,” Kimmy lived in a bunker for 15 years before she was rescued. Emerging into the sunshine, Kimmy is ready to take on a whole new world: a totally normal life.

Netflix’s charming “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” debuted with its first season around this time last year, so fans have been anxiously awaiting season 2. Helmed by Tina Fey (and covered with telltale Fey fingerprints), “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is funny, feminist—and very pro-free speech in a censorious world. 

Culture

‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ Wins the Battle (Passing the Bechdel Test) But Loses the War (Being a Great Film)

Like its central character, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” can’t quite figure out what it wants to be when it grows up.

The one and only Tina Fey is lots of fun per usual playing Kim Baker, a 40-something who ditches her deadbeat job writing news copy for people who “look pretty on TV” to cover blood, sweat and explosions in Afghanistan. She’s typically deadpan hilarious, with a uniquely Fey sense of timing, and brings a wry humanity to the role as she acts as a surrogate for the audience. Most of us have never been to Afghanistan or experienced the terror of a war zone; Fey’s Baker hasn’t either, grappling with new dangers and a foreign culture in a relatable way.