Entertaining but lazy

Rating: 6/10 (13 April 2018)

The story of Tonya Harding is an amazing one. A figure-skater whose face and image didn't fit her chosen sport's, she nonetheless had a pretty decent career; but one which ended in extreme controversy when she was implicated in a plot to injure one of her leading rivals. It's a story of someone doubly disadvantaged by their background: Tonya faced prejudice, but that's not to say she wasn't carrying real baggage as well, in the form of the various unsuitable acquaintances of hers involved in the assault. Unfortunately, 'I, Tonya' is a rather lazy film, with a clumsy and unsubtle description of American "white trash", an unimaginative soundtrack comprising a semi-random assemblage of pop hits, and a treatment of the story as essentially comic. It ends with a ludicrous court scene in which Tonya is banned from competition as part of her criminal sentence. It's a shame, because you're left with the feeling that there's certainly a story worth telling in here; but this feels no more sophisticated than a cartoon.