Everyone is right about Janney, but the rest...

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2018)

Let me start off by saying, yes. Janney does a fantastic job. In general the acting is good across the board (though she is the only one that really stands out... as well as Hauser... playing believably, a very unbelievable person).
But, the story left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, as it skirts this awkward line of presenting itself as factual... but avoiding having to actually be so with a few fourth wall breaks, and some joking narrator swaps/contradictions... calling itself "based on interviews".
Most notably, Stan (playing the abusive ex) is very capably acted... except in the "interview" scenes, where he suddenly becomes fidgety and completely unbelievable; I suspect because the director WANTED him to, in an attempt to subtly bias the viewer against his version of events... despite their efforts to pretend they give equal credence to his and Tonya's. No, the movie clearly takes Tonya's story, and introduces three other characters (ex, mother, and former coach) simply to make it seem like they will present any other evidence than Tonya's word. The fifth "interview" is a reporter who is primarily there for gag reel footage. Make no mistake, this is "I, Tonya". This is Tonya's version of events... no matter how inaccurate they may prove to be. We threw a few extra narrators in there to account for when she didn't keep her story straight.
What this leaves you with is a wholly artificial story told by someone with an apparent persecution complex:
My father abandoned me. My mother abused me. Ever single person who ever judged me was biased against me (except the two times they sent me to the olympics). My husband beat me. My coach was worthless so I fired her, then she begged me to take her back. The judges made me move my abusive husband back in with me. My skates broke at my first olympics, then again at my second one. And even so I skated better than Nancy and should have won, but they wouldn't let me because everyone is so unfair to me.
At times it can't even keep its own story straight. Tonya goes from being absolutely fine with the death threats she helped plan to utter shock that her husband knew anything about anything... but I suppose any sloppy storytelling can be excused by invisible shifts between whose story we're supposed to be seeing at any given time.
It leaves outrageous claims unchallenged, like one that Tonya, bleeding from a gunshot ricochet gets pulled over with her Ex by multiple police cars after a chase... who finding a shotgun, booze, and a recently fired handgun; just wave her and her ex husband (who she's taken multiple restraining orders out against) on.
The story also glosses over, or even rewrites facts. Remember the note in Tonya's handwriting telling them where to find Nancy? They flash a note on the screen for less than a second, after demonstrating Tonya calling one time (not the four times she is supposed to have... each time trying to get more incriminating information) .
And, as a black comedy; they do a terrible disservice by spending the lions share of the movie focusing on Tonya's abusive relationship, and almost none on the events surrounding the crime itself. Virtually no time is given to the two actors on the scene of the crime... not to mention the victim. They go so far as to rewrite the facts (I assume for the sake of time) to write out the people WHO ACTUALLY SOLVED THE CASE FOR THE FBI, inserting existing characters into those roles creating confusing (and wholly inaccurate by ANYONE's account) scenes.
It's an interesting watch if you want to see two hours of someone excusing poor decisions they've made by blaming others, or if you get a kick out of watching someone beat up their wife because she wants expensive ice cream. If you see it, see it for Janney's performance (which sadly is missing from a good half of the film).