I loved this movie

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2018)

This movie makes a good case for a re-evaluation of top figure skater Tonya Harding, who was punished severely, and crucified in the media, for being associated with the infamous bashing of rival Nancy Kerrigan. I went into this movie expecting to be confused about who did what, and expecting that Harding would come out looking bad. Instead, writer Steven Rogers and director Craig Gillespie offer us a mock documentary that, while funny in highlighting the redneck nature of the participants, gives a very clear account of what happened, based on actual interviews with them. And Harding, despite her many faults, emerges as a kind of hero. Not least because she rose from working class hillbilly who was so poor she had to make her own costumes, to US Olympic representative, with equal parts enormous talent, drive and hard work. We forget just how good she was - nailing triple axels when no one else would even attempt them. When she blasts the judges to their faces for marking her down for being the 'wrong kind of girl', i.e. not sweet or middle class enough to win, she is convincing in her argument. Also she had to contend with a monster of a mother, LaVona (beautifully played by Allison Janney) who believes praise and love of her daughter are weaknesses. Yeah, maybe LaVona's toughness did drive Tonya to win, but at what cost? Then Harding falls for the initially sweet and supportive Jeff (Sebastian Stan), who turns out to be a violent thug, bashing and even shooting her. If Harding knew what was good for her, she would have dropped him like a hot potato, but unfortunately he was her one source of support. And she needed support. The real villain emerges as Jeff's friend Shawn (masterfully played by Paul Walter Hauser), who initially comes across as a harmless loser, but whose delusions of grandeur lead him to translate Jeff's casual talk about sending death threats to Kerrigan, into ordering flunkies to carry out the eventual bashing of Kerrigan in the leg while at training.
According to the movie, Harding may have known about the talk of death threats but didn't know about the plot to bash Kerrigan. Harding was also accused of not reporting what she learned about incident after it had happened.
You get the sense that Harding was punished enough. She was banned from skating for life - although it was her reason for being. Actor Margot Robbie is way, way too tall and glamorous to play the stocky, working class Harding. But Robbie does give the role an appropriately manic energy, and the skating scenes are very convincing, even if a stand-in must have done most of the difficult bits.
Harding later gets into professional boxing, which seems very appropriate - she was a fighter from way back. At the end of the movie, I was cheering for Harding, and I was glad from the credits to see she seems to have found some happiness in later life.