Review of I, Tonya (2017) by Waleed A — 18 Apr 2018

Like the way Margo Robbie portrays the mature Tonya Harding, the movie "I, Tonya" wants to have it all - stand as an expose, cautionary tale, a parable about mothers and daughters, a rags-to-riches-and-back-again narrative, and a sports flick; however in trying to achieve all of these goals, the film fails at almost every one due to its prioritizing of style over substance.

While I understand that letting each player in the story talk about their perspective on events (and allowing the audience to decide how much of what was said was the truth and who was being honest) was intentional, it just made the narrative being told a mess in the first place.

Even so, it is not a tale that many people could emotionally invest into anyway considering that much of it amounts to the squabbles and drama involving a few selfish and (sincerely) ignorant individuals messing up one person's career and destroying every(one and everything) caught in their wake.

Outside of the obvious inciting event that made the name "Tonya Harding" infamous, there is not much in the narrative to hold a viewer's interest. Robbie is fine if unremarkable as the title character, but the only one who really comes close to bringing their A-game is Allison Janney.

While her character is fairly simplified, the actress brings a shocking brutishness to the part. The supporting characters outside of those performances do not make much of an impact in comparison. If one insists on seeking out this film, the best thing to take from it is Janney's (and to a lesser extent Robbie's) acting; otherwise, if one wants to hear more about this story, he or she should find some documentary about the subject.