I, Tonya (2017) - Review
Originally published November 2018For those who may not remember, back in the early 1990s, there was a small rivalry between two female American ice skaters who were on their way to the Olympics: Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. It was just a couple of young girls, who represented their own demographics in the US, competing for the gold. This scenario has since lost its unique quality and become a more common story for Olympic athletes, and not just in figure skating. However, what set this rivalry apart in the history books was the controversy that erupted when Kerrigan was attacked by a stranger in the hallway leading to the locker room and was hit on the knee with a blunt object. It didn't take long for rumor and hearsay to point the finger at her rival. And it took even less time for those actually responsible for the act to prove how foolish they were. I, Tonya is a dramatization of events in Harding's life based on the interviews with the guilty parties, Tonya's mother, and Tonya Harding herself.
I, Tonya is a somewhat comedic interpretation of true events, but still uses something of a documentary format with reenactments of interviews conducted with Tonya, her ex-husband, her mother, and a few other individuals who were involved. The movie isn't trying to inform you; it's trying to entertain you. It's a fictionalized version of true events that takes the perspective: Harding was not very involved in the conspiracy that inevitably ended her ice skating career. Whether you believe that or not, I, Tonya is still an entertaining movie.
Image: Neon
Pros
Great cast
4th-wall-breaking dialogue during reenactments is interesting
Lots of long cinematic shots
Some of the ice-skating sequences look pretty good, considering the budget and scope of this film
Pretty funny at times
Cons
Middle of the movie is a bit slow with a lot of back and forth between Harding and her husband
Becomes a bit overly dramatic for the sake of entertainment and telling a familiar story
Plot & Thoughts
I, Tonya is a dramatized biographical piece on Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie). It starts with her as a young girl learning to skate under the watchful and judging eyes of her oppressive mother. It then follows her through big moments in her childhood and adolescence, into her teenage years and young adulthood. This includes her dad leaving, her various skating successes (like being the first American woman to complete a triple axel during a competition), her confrontations with skating judges and coaches, her exchanges of violence and romance with her husband, and the unfortunate fall from the grace she had only just achieved.
Regardless of who you ended up believing was responsible for the infamous Nancy Kerrigan incident, it's still difficult not to feel sympathetic towards Harding while watching I, Tonya. The film does a good job of reminding you that Harding worked hard to achieve her goals, despite being in abusive relationships and not representing the typical or "ideal" image of a female figure skater. She was an outcast in a lot of ways, but her determination and skill were still impressive enough to set her apart. This makes the inevitable end of her career, at the hands of the morons that surrounded her, and the law that didn't have any sympathy for her, that much more of a bitter pill. I, Tonya does a commendable job of telling a story without being too sentimental in a way that is unjustified. It seems like it favors her side of the story a little bit, but it doesn't necessarily take sides on the issues.
Image: Neon
The movie is at its best when it's showing something that is conceptually dark, but hysterical or goofy, like the interviews with her ex-husband's idiotic friend, Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser). You can't help but laugh at the guy who's got delusions of grandeur about being a worldwide security specialist but hasn't moved out of his parents' basement. Even the moments leading up to and after the infamous attack are entertaining in their own way because of the absurdly dumb actions of the men Shawn hired to attack her. The comical representation of the stupidity of everyone involved in the incident is almost enough to make the harsh, abusive moments funny in a dark way. The movie is at its worst when characters act inconsistent in an attempt to create a little extra drama or emotion that wasn't really there, like when Jeff (Sebastian Stan) suddenly wisens up to Shawn's nonsense in a way that indicates his character suddenly took a big leap in IQ points.
It all strikes a good balance between ironic comedy and intense drama. The interview format with the occasional self-aware moments adds a good amount of personality to everything. A lot of the ridiculous moments are made more absurd by the solid acting and the idea that all the events are being reenacted according to someone else's storyline. For example, there's a scene where Harding pumps a shotgun and says "This never happened" before firing a shot at Jeff. It all evens out as an entertaining movie, but it also never becomes great enough that I feel the need to watch it again.
Image: Neon
TL;DR (Conclusion)
I, Tonya is a fun, docudrama about ridiculous real events. All the acting is convincing and superb. The self-aware storytelling techniques are unique and add a lot of flare to the presentation. It's all enjoyable and funny without getting so goofy that you can't take the darker, dramatic moments seriously. It's definitely worth a watch.
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