Entertaining, Well-Acted Dark Comedy

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2018)

This biopic on the Tonya Harding figure skating scandal is both entertaining and informative. Headlined by performances by Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser, the film tells the story of Harding's upbringing through her figure skating career that eventually lead her to the Olympics. The performances in "I, Tonya" are strong throughout. Margot Robbie manages to play the lead role well, with the perfect pitch of darkness and sarcasm. She manages to get the audience to root for an otherwise deeply unlikable (for obvious reasons) protagonist who one might consider to be an "anti-hero" in the structure of this narrative. Allison Janney is excellent (as always,) and the other supporting characters bring a unique amount of depth and character analysis to the story. The fact that the incident is approached from a variety of sides and perspectives is unique and provides a sense of originality within the film. The film is also rounded out by an astonishingly good soundtrack loaded with classic rock songs.
"I Tonya" isn't perfect, however. The film is paced very poorly, as it manages to start introducing the viewer to the circumstances surrounding Tonya Harding and the 1992 Olympics just under halfway through. The lack of resolution after the climax is also a concern. Despite these structural imperfections, however, this is an entertaining and well-made sports biopic also working as a pitch-black comedy--that I do recommend. 7/10