Extremely Involving Movie That Tells a Crazy but True Story With Equal Parts Tragedy and Comedy

Rating: 9/10 (8 January 2018)

I wasn't old enough to process Tonya Harding's story when it was going on, so I can only describe this movie as a fresh face. I loved how this movie played into the wild and varied accounts about Tonya's life. Instead of presenting one version and calling it "the truth" (which Harding even talks about through voice over in the final scene), they present different accounts through Harding (played by Margot Robbie), Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and LaVona Golden (Allison Janney) and the movie is very ambiguous about what happened. This was refreshing, the story is just so bizarre no matter whose account you choose to believe. It allows the creative team the freedom to cherry-pick what they want to show, and I was constantly engaged. Normally I'm critical when the stray from the facts in a biopic but no one will ever "actually" know what happened, so the movie has some fun with it without straying into implausibility.
So, knowing that the movie toys with the story a little, I still was floored by the characters and the character development. Tonya Harding, whether she was guilty or not, became a sympathetic in my eyes. I'm not saying that what she did was right or that Kerrigan deserved it (that shouldn't even be a question) but with the kind of upbringing she had, was she going to be an emotionally stable adult? I would say no. Even though the world decided she was the villain, her work ethic and her perseverance made her endearing to me. Gillooly and Golden are villains and they're monsters but the movie makes them characters that you want to follow. Add in one of the dumbest characters I've seen on screen in Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser) and a surprisingly informative narrator in Martin Maddox (Bobby Cannavale) and you have a movie populated by unforgettable characters that all have a surprising amount of depth.
I've talked about the characters and how closely the movie sticks to the facts, but I wanted to add how sharp of a script I think this was. The movie is hilarious at points and it just breaks your heart at others. The dialogue is always sharp (even though its vulgar as h@!!) and I found the movie suspenseful throughout. They also present serious issues like spousal/familial abuse in a different light. Tonya faces violence daily and instead of stopping the movie to show it, its very much treated as an everyday occurrence. It is shocking and every time you're starting to have too much fun, it just sobers you up completely. It was a bold but effective choice to show how screwed up her life was. Add in the great 4th wall breaking and narration from different characters, they really produced something special with this.
The script was great, but Gillespie and his team shot the crap out of this too. The skating and action scenes are dynamic with the camera constantly moving and showing things from different angles. What Tonya and the other skaters do as athletes is an art and the movie shows that. I also thought the movie was gritty but had a sense of style. There's also a neat shot showing the passage of time after one of Tony and Jeff's breakups that weaves things together beautifully. Instead of just skating by, the movie committed to making things exciting from a visual standpoint.
I, Tonya has also garnered some deserved praise for the actors and actresses. Even as a fan, I was blown away by Margot Robbie as Tonya. She doesn't look like Harding, but her performance has so much emotion and effort in it that she capably carries this movie. She's probably going to get an Oscar nomination for this and she deserves it. She's got tons of talent and I hope she gets more roles like this. I was expecting great things from Robbie, but the surprising performance was Sebastian Stan as Jeff. He really did great work, he's the underrated one in this cast. He capably plays Jeff as a slimy/bad guy but complex nonetheless. Allison Janney is just evil as LaVona and she's also deserving of the praise/award recognition for her work. She's so awful but you can't turn away because of Janney's performance. Paul Walter Hauser is perfect in the worst way for Shawn. He's so stupid and Hauser plays up the idiocy of the character so well. I also liked Bobby Cannavale in his small role, he's a nice mix of sleazy and funny that helps round out the story.
I only have 1 criticism of this movie and its not the one that most of the reviews have. The biggest complaint I've heard about the movie is the CGI in the skating sequences, that its obvious that they've put Margot Robbie's head on another skater. I didn't think it was a seamless effect, but I never had a problem with it. My problem was that they made the decision to have Robbie and Stan play the 15-16 year old versions of Harding and Gillooly and while I get it would have been an awkward transition (by the end of the movie, Harding is only 23 so how else could they have done it?) I still found it hard to buy them at those points. I don't want to blame the actors, but it just came off as a rare misstep for a largely flawless movie.
This is one of 2017's best movies for me. It was highly praised and after seeing it, I think rightly so. I think the acting, direction and script were all impressive and the movie came together to be something worth going to see. I wish it had a bigger release, I had to go out of my way to see this but I, Tonya is a great sports biopic that breaks the mold. Check this out if you get the chance.