Solid Black Comedy With an Intriguing Backdrop

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2018)

Firstly, the only actual complaint I see about this movie is from people that claim it's inaccurate. If that is your complaint, way to miss the point, dumb dumb.
This movie is a black comedy, the comedy of which centers primarily on the fact that the filmmakers employed the services of completely unreliable narrators. Basing their script off actual interviews with the key players involved, including Tonya, her ex-husband and her mother, the filmmakers make no claim that the events unfolding in the film represent the 100% true story. Instead, it's the story told by people with a very clear stake in how they're represented, and the attitudes of these people in addition to their different interpretations of the same events is exactly what makes it funny and interesting.
And interesting it is, even for someone like me who has been very invested in the story for as long as I've known about it. I mean just think about the absurdity of it: a woman consistently portrayed as white trash seemingly calling in a mafia-style attack on her rival figure skater. Her rival... figure skater. How has it taken this long for a comedy to be made based on this?! It writes itself.
And to make it even better, the story is far from that simple. There are many debates even to this day about whether or not Tonya Harding knew what was going down or if she had any involvement whatsoever. You will certainly see many interpretations of that night's events in that film. But as mentioned, these are interpretations from wildly unreliable sources and while that supplies the comedy and intrigue in spades, it certainly doesn't provide concrete answers. That's what makes it kind of brilliant. This is a black comedy film based on the Harding/Kerrigan Saga. Not a 30 for 30 special.
And let's make no mistake. This film puts the black in black comedy. This deals with heavy subjects, especially to do with abuse, both mental and physical, from parents, children and spouses alike. And while it will often give these moments the emotional gravitas that it deserves, the film will just as often treat them strangely light-heartedly. The expectation of a dark subject being treated respectfully, only for the rug to be pulled out from it in seemingly careless fashion, is the crux of a lot of the humor here. By black comedy standards, it's all rather tame. But people who don't have a dark sense of humor and are unused to that style may find themselves offended. To this I would normally say nut up and learn how to take a joke, but instead I'm gonna be nice and just leave a fair warning.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I should definitely talk about some stand-out performances. First of course, is Margot Robbie, who is rapidly making a case for being called a superstar. Between standing out from the mediocrity in Suicide Squad to deliver a pretty definitive version of Harley Quinn, to now playing a tough-as-nails redneck figure skater in Tonya Harding, the Australian bombshell has displayed a range befitting much more seasoned veterans. She does a great job here being everything from funny and relatable to broken and miserable and it's truly something watching her go to work.
Who I especially want to sing the praises of, however is Allison Janney, who's portrayal of Tonya's damaged mother is a sight to behold. Janney is completely unrecognizable here, marvelously portraying a woman who truly thinks she is doing her best but is ultimately poisoning her daughter with perpetual verbal and physical abuse. Listening to real interviews with Tonya Harding makes it very clear how much contempt she has for her mother, and looking at Janney's performance you can very easily see why. She was absolutely wonderful here, and pretty hilarious in her own right when it was called for.
At the end of the day what we have here is an endlessly intriguing and hilarious depiction of one of the most brutal -and funniest- sagas in the history of athletic competition. I highly recommend it.