I, Tonya Review

R: pervasive language, violence, and some sexual content/nudity

Neon

1 Hr and 59 Minutes

Dir: Craig Gillespie | Writer: Steven Rogers

Cast: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney

INTRO: What to say about Tonya Harding? I never had any knowledge about Tonya Harding prior to this movie. I researched her a bit and listened to a new Sufjan Stevens tribute song about her before seeing this movie. Then out of nowhere, my mom texts me about her, and she saw the trailer and thought this was so close to the real thing and indeed it was.

Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.

THE GOOD

AN ANGRYDOG STORY

This isn’t an underdog story but an angry dog story because this is just such an aggressive movie. The film is put on TRIGGERED mode from beginning to end, and it has a very uncomfortableness you have to be able to swallow. What director Craig Gillespie does brilliantly is capturing raw emotion that has you consciously thinking with every second "Wow people are all pieces of shit." There are absolutely no characters to grasp a liking to, and you have to accept that when walking in. What you have to take into account before seeing this is that there are scenes of domestic abuse and violence that are very uncomfortable to sit through. The thing that Gillespie does with this story is rather than this being a guilty pleasure biopic; he presents a story that makes you feel guilty that you’re pleasuring this dark comedy filled with moments that will chill you to your core.

The film follows a narrative style similar to Doug Liman's "American Made" (where home video interviews are utilized as a clutch to progress a story but this time everyone gets in on the action) mixed in with those work safety Canadian PSAs (where characters would interact with the audience while something terrible proceeds to happen). So pretty much while characters will narrate what happened in the past, that past version of themselves also break that wall while talking to the audience. In other words, it features fourth wall breaks inside a fourth wall break.

Because of this narrative style, you’re able to follow along with this insane yet profound story about a woman who got nothing but crap all her life, but the one thing she loved was stripped away from her because of the action of others. It keeps the flow and pacing of the film moving, and it does a great job doing it.

Besides that, Gillespie also gives the story a stylistic flair that is mesmerizing to view. He has a lovely playfulness with camera movement where the majority of the scenes are filmed with back and forth camera movement of panning and long continuous shots that reveals the ending of scenes of conflict. He uses the camera movement as an element of surprise and its incorporated very well. 

TRIPLE AXL OF ACTING

It is impressive to see how far Margot Robbie has come as an actress because this is one of her best performances of her career and she's just getting started. This is cinematic proof that the woman has the capability to singlehandedly headline a movie since she is the emotional core of this feature. The only person you can admire or follow is Tonya Harding who is the victim of abuse from both her mom and spouse, but she is tough as nails. All this woman love to do is figure skate and compete, but the world takes a bite of her so hard that she will try to bite back. Poor Harding was the puppet to Golden’s strings, but as she gets older, you can see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree for she is angry, bratty, and shit talks anyone who crosses her. 

This woman is beat down and tormented by everyone that she comes close to losing it sometimes. Shit, this could've been the Harley Quinn origin film more than whatever "Suicide Squad" tried to do because this movie is a brilliant psychological character study that has you tearing up for her in the end. Her comedic beats are on point, and her emotional beats are on point. We see the world from her point of view, and it never dawns on me for a moment that Robbie is Australian. This is a brilliant showcase of Robbie’s skills as an actress and proof that she can hold a leading role with her own two Aussie hands. 

Allison Janney. Oh my God. I love Allison Janney as a performer for she has been in so many lovable roles even when she has to play an antagonist. You see her weekly on the CBS comedy “Mom” where she plays a lovable and relatable mother to Anna Faris. But Janney has tremendously transformed to be a great mom on TV to the biggest bitch of a mother in a film I’ve ever seen since Halley from “The Florida Project.” I know that movie was very recent, but I can’t think of a worse mother than Hailey. But right when I said, Wow this is the worst mom in cinema I’ve ever seen, “I, Tonya” says, Hold my beer as it presents to me LaVona Golden who has to be one of the most terrible mothers I’ve ever seen in film ever. As much as I hate her as a character, Janney pulls off this remarkable performance that I’ve never would expect to see from her before.

She is a goddamn villain, but at the same time you love her because of sheer curiosity that makes you question, Okay, how far of can shithead of a human being can this woman be?  And she never fails her way of catching you off guard because of her despicable personality. She always has a way of surprising you even when you think she has some redeemable qualities to herself. Even when you think Tonya has some slither of hope with her relationship with her mom, LaVona just never lives up to her expectation. The only thing that has you not hating her to the extent that you want her to die is the fact is that she is funny. You laugh at the disgusting things she says to Tonya or anybody she interacts with, but she is such a vile person even more than Mother Gothel for she physically and mentally abuses this poor girl who just wants nothing more out of life than figure skating. Golden so damn evil that she pays hecklers for and others to shit talk her before she gets out on the ice because her mom knows best that she works better when heated. Every time she is onscreen this is an accurate representation of how I felt towards her.

And lastly, we have Sebastian Stan who is also as evil as Janney. Outside of acting as Captain America’s baby Bucky, we never see Stan much in films, but this is the role that proves that this kid has a lot of talent to him. He is a manipulative asshole who you think loves Tonya at first but then quickly turns into an abuser and just a sleazy asshole. You never saw Stan in a role like this before, and he’s absolutely fantastic. Seriously if he were growing up in our time today, this man would've been a school shooter.  He is the living embodiment of what I hate in men today such as being abusive, manipulative, needy, threatening. Whenever Jeff pulls up in a driveway your heart pounds for Tonya and hope to God, she gets out of each situation alive. He is a villain in his own right and it kind of makes you hate Stan in a way in the same vein you hated Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave” where you can separate the actor from his character because he plays that role so damn well.

When Tonya always leave him only to get back with him, you question, GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? Mostly a lot of films involves Tonya getting back together with Jeff over and over again for various reasons and you sympathize with her each time she does but then again you know they're toxic together. Friggin Jerry and Beth from “Rick & Morty” are a much better compatible couple then Jeff and Tonya.

THE BAD

DARK COMEDY YET DEPRESSING TONE

Earlier this season, there was a film named “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri" which I think is a perfect example of what a dark comedy should be. Whereas that film nails its tone all the way through because of its characters, the humor, and most of all its story, “I, Tonya” never necessarily sticks the landing of its tone. With “Three Billboards, Outside Ebbing Missouri” the comedy and the drama was balanced due to the characters who go through significant growth as the story progresses. Here, the characters are just one note assholes from beginning to end, and it doesn’t give the movie strength but what it does instead is it enhances her character of Harding who is sadly overshadowed by all of the supporting characters. Don’t get me wrong, Margot Robbie is fantastic, but for a considerable chunk of the film, it focuses more on Jeff Gillooly and Shawn Eckhardt. Granted this is genuinely Tonya’s story, and they play the most critical parts of it for they are the centerpiece of one of the biggest stories in figure skating history, but you’re just stuck with these two stooges for a good portion of the film.

YOU HAD BETTER PHOTOSHOP PEOPLE RIGHT?

Okay I can believe that you can have Margot Robbie to play Tonya from age 15 (they even give her braces so she can seem younger) and beyond, but I can’t believe the film goes out its way to plaster the former actors face on top of actual figure skater’s body. The worst critical sin that this movie has is its CG. Oh my God is it atrocious, Whenever there is a figure skating scene, it is remarkably filmed, but then you see the uncanny face of whoever portraying Tonya at whatever age photoshopped onto an actual figure skater’s body. It is fucking jarring to see it that it kind of ruins the sequence when they occur because you know that's something you have to endure.

LAST STATEMENT

Though it doesn’t stick the perfect landing especially with its tone and one-note characters, “I, Tonya” is still inventive biopic that is powerfully carried by Robbie, Janney, and Stan and is fearless to go the extra mile by depicting a story of criminal insanity on top of tragedy. 

Rating: 3.5/5 | 78%

Super Scene: Tonya tries to keep a smiling face.