I, Tonya

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I, Tonya is based off of allegedly true interviews. The basis of the movie is controversial skater Tonya Harding (played by Margot Robbie). This movie could have easily just portayed Tonya Harding as a punchline, or the basis of a cheap joke. They really don’t, and I kind of like that. They actually show that she is a person herself. In a way, they actually make her more sympathetic. That is probably going to be the most controversial thing about this movie. I don’t know necessarily how much of this movie is true. What’s presented in the movie is a woman who seemed to face a lot of physical and emotional abuse from both her mother and her husband. I also kind of appreciate that they don’t necessarily make Tonya the most likable person either. There are several points in this movie where they break the fourth wall. This is something that can easily be off-putting to most people, but it never really bothered me. It adds to the dark sense of humor that is laced throughout the movie. A lot of humor works because there is a tragedy laced underneath a lot of it, and it never detracts from the overall movie or story. The acting in this movie is great. I feel like Sebastian Stan as Tonya Harding’s husband, Jeff Gillooly is going to be heavily overlooked, and I don’t feel that’s fair to his performance. Allison Janney is incredible as Harding’s mother, who pushed her to the brink, trying to make Tonya a better skater. As great as I feel Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney are in this, the movie belongs to Margot Robbie. She feels almost unrecognizable in this, making for what may go down as one of (if not the best) performance of her career. This is one of those rare movies where you see the characters, not the actors playing them.

10 / 10