Tonya Harding is a person who worked long and hard to pursue a dream of being the best skater in America and even the world. So, when I heard that a studio was pursuing a project about Harding, I thought ok, this will be interesting and we do not get many true stories about skaters often enough. I thought it might be a "by-the-book" kind of movie where it plays the same sort of beats you find in a sports biopic. For example, Raging Bull, the mother of sports biopics from Martin Scorsese, felt like poetry as it takes you both on the positive and negative sides of Jake La Motta's story both in the boxing ring and in the outside world in his low life. This movie does not reach those heights but it had echoes of that Scorsese film that becomes more lean, dark and exciting. I really had a good time with this movie.
As a child, Tonya has been pushed by her mother, LaVona (Allison Janney), to join a figure skating class that is taught by Diane (Julianne Nicholson) since she was 4. After Diane says she does not teach beginners, she sees her potential after seeing her on ice. However, LaVona becomes more abusive towards her to become the best skater that she could be even though she was closer to her father, but unfortunately, he left her and LaVona. When she is a teenager, Tonya sees Jeff (Sebastian Stan) but he is as abusive as LaVona, frequently striking Tonya, however, they still are together to see if there is hope for both of them.
When Tonya becomes confident and completes her skating competition, she gets agitated with the judges because they would not present her scores. But, one of the judges does insult Tonya. Tonya fires Diane and eventually marries Jeff, which LaVona thinks it was a mistake. After being so successful in the 1991 Minnesota Nationals, Jeff becomes more abusive towards her and Tonya maintains her focus so much on skating that she leaves him. She also becomes friends with fellow skater and competitor, Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver). But, she becomes angry that she is finishing behind Nancy, but flashbacks indicate that her weight gain due to drinking interferes with finishing great.
If you know the story and history of Tonya Harding, you know what is coming but what is so refreshing about this movie is how the story balances dark humor and vulnerability, especially on Tonya's side. Even though we know the results of Tonya Harding as a skater and as a person, she is a human being with feelings and you want to feel compassionate towards her as the movie unfolds. But, again, this movie has "mildly true, wildly contradictory" interviews that can help you figure out who was behind the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. You have to debate for yourself because there is no definitive answer. It sort of parallels with the 1991 Oliver Stone movie, JFK, in which you may not know definitely who was behind the JFK assassination. Did Tonya Harding really factor in behind the attack? We may not know.
Margot Robbie gives her best performance of her career as she disappears into Tonya Harding as she immerses herself into being both sad but also darkly humorous as she conveys the tone of the whole movie. We see her happiness, anguish, wild side and sadness because of her childhood with her mother, which is a nice segue to Allison Janney, who gives a fierce and devilish performance that pushes Harding to the limit. You can argue that she can be one of the most nightmarish mothers in movie history or in real life. Sebastian Stan is very good as the boyfriend, seeing another side of him I've never seen before. All the performances are fantastic across the board.
Director Craig Gillespie manages to pull this movie by showing that Tonya is not the caricature that mass media defined her to be because she was working so hard to become the skater perfectionist. There is a scene in the movie that is quite emotional in which Tonya wants jail instead of being banned from the skating completion for life because it truly takes her dream away. It is like ripping her soul out. The movie is truly like Goodfellas with the pop music accompanying the scenes, narration and the camerawork. Even though some of the songs are on the nose and I'd wished that the interviews were more narration, I, Tonya makes you question your perceptions on not just Tonya Harding but also on other people once you recognize or meet them. I was quite surprised of how much I liked this movie.
***1/2
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