Review of I, Tonya (2017) by Michael M — 01 Jun 2018
I, Tonya is a perfectly serviceable movie. It's fine, more than fine, I'd go so far as to call it good. For me though, it just never goes far enough with its material. This is a story I was interested in learning more about, and I am really glad I did, it's a story worth hearing.
Not just about the actual incident with Nancy Kerrigan, but about Tonya Harding's whole life, it's actually a damn interesting story. There's a lot about her that's entirely unlikable, but there's a lot about her that is sympathetic and something of an underdog story.
That part of the movie works. The other thing that works is the acting. Every actor completely knocks it out of the park, especially Margot Robbie and Allison Janey who are just giving it everything they've got.
The part of the movie that doesn't work as well is what it does with the story. At the end of the day, it's just a standard biopic. Fine enough, but fairly pedestrian. It tries to mix things up with dark comedy and lots of fourth wall breaks, but it never really lands.
It reminded a lot of what The Big Short did, but in The Big Short it worked. Why'd it work there and not here? I'm not really sure, but the simple fact is I, Tonya never made me laugh, and I could tell it was trying to.
It's a standard film, but it's still a story worth hearing, so take that for what it's worth.
This review of I, Tonya (2017) was written by Michael M on 01 Jun 2018.
I, Tonya has generally received very positive reviews.
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