A Sympathetic Perspective

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2018)

I don't remember the actual Nancy Kerrigan assault and the ensuing media fallout because I was too young, so I didn't enter with any preconceived notions of what really happened. They don't try to definitively say if Tonya Harding ordered the attack, because we will probably never know for certain, but they frame her potential innocence as a strong possibility. That seems absurd until you realize the incredible stupidity of her ex-husband and his friends. The film plays out as a dark comedy following the extremely unlikely rise of Tonya Harding from trailer trash to one of the top figure skaters in the world through all of the adversity with an institution that didn't want any part of her.
Margot Robbie is excellent, if a little too tall, as Tonya, channeling the anger and drive that propelled Tonya to greatness and may have led to her downfall. Allison Janney is fantastic as her abusive, hateful mother in a performance that will earn her a surefire Oscar nod. Sebastian Stan is also pretty good in an almost unrecognizable performance as her unhinged ex-husband. Ultimately, I was left feeling a little sorry for Tonya because they took the only thing she could do away from her by banning her from skating.