A no holds barred, tongue-in-cheek look into the life of the titular skater and the infamous legacy she has left behind

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2018)

I, Tonya is a biographical film about controversial figure skater Tonya Harding. Starring Margot Robbie in the lead role, it is a no holds barred, tongue-in-cheek look into the life of the titular skater and the infamous legacy she has left behind.
Since the age of 4, Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) had been forced into the sport of figure skating by her abusive and domineering mother, LaVona (Allison Janney). As she grows older, Tonya becomes one of America's greatest figure skaters and attracts a whole legion of fans along the way due to her bold and brash personality. While training one day, Tonya meets Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and the two start dating and eventually marry, against LaVona's wishes. However, their marriage is rife with physical and verbal abuse against each other, and over time this takes its toll on Tonya's abilities as a skater.
The film portrays its subject in a surprisingly sympathetic light. We, the audience, are shown that a great deal of Tonya Harding's actions and personality traits are not entirely her fault, but that of the people she was unfortunate to have been surrounded by. Margot Robbie gives a career-redefining performance as the title character, hopefully putting an end to any doubt that she cannot play serious roles like this due to being considered too "beautiful" or "glamorous". However, Allison Janney stands out as Tonya's tyrannical mother, who is clearing exploiting her daughter's fame and fortune for her own personal gain, much like many of today's "pageant moms" .
I rate it 8/10