Review of I, Tonya (2017) by Kristofer B — 26 Jan 2018

Craig Gillespie's (Lars and the Real Girl) "I, Tonya" shows he has the ability to take the story of Tonya Harding and turn it into a Coen brothers-esqe dark screwball comedy. The screenwriter, Steven Rogers, conducted interviews with Tonya and Jeff Gillooly resulting in conflicting reports about the events and who was involved in them. This lead to Gillespie making I, Tonya into a faux documentary. This allowed for great moments of breaking the fourth wall and playing with the viewers expectations. I was really surprised that they didnt use Tonya Harding as a punching bag. In a movie where they could have made Tonya the but end of a joke, they instead sympathize and provide context leading up to the Nancy Kerrigan knee bashing.

While every actor involved is great, the two bright spots are Margot Robbie and Allison Janney. As Tonya Harding, Robbie brings a warmth/vulnurability to an otherwise dispicable person. Whether it be a comedic scene or a dramatic scene, Margot convincingly shows us that Tonya believes that she was the victim and that she didnt do anthing wrong.While Allison Janney's character is one note throughout the film, I always found myself looking forward to when she pops back up on screen. I also found the film to be paced and edited really well. To me it never dragged and I never felt bored.

Asides from Allison Janney's character, with I, Tonya I felt that at some points the movie fell victim to convential storytelling tropes. I also found some of the CGI during some of the skating scenes to be at best questionable.

In the end we got a well directed dark comedy about one of sports most bizarre moments with great performances, especially from Margot Robbie and Allison Janney.

Final Score: 4/5 or 8 out of 10.