“I, Tonya” Review

While Margot Robbie is most widely known for her role as Harley Quinn in “Suicide Squad,” her most influential role is Tonya Harding, in my opinion. An incident occurred with her and another Olympic figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan, and Harding was blamed for it. Kerrigan was struck above her knee with a police baton. The attacker had distant connections to Harding, and Harding was put on trial.

Released December 8th, 2017, this movie tells the tale of the drama throughout the figure-skating world in the 1994 Olympics. This movie portrays the tale from a different point of view and creates a sense of depth to the story. It cuts from clips of staged interviews to scenes of Robbie reenacting Tonya Harding’s life.

I absolutely loved this movie. I think Robbie did a marvelous job playing Harding and adding her signature sass. Though I do believe Robbie overacted a little bit, the movie was good nonetheless. What stands out about this movie to me is that Robbie learned how to figure-skate for the movie. The cinematography was also identical to the real-life footage of Harding’s performances.

“I, Tonya” is categorized under drama and sports, and that is perfectly accurate.Though it may seem like this movie is a documentary of some sort, it’s not. It’s a true story, but is action-packed with reality-TV-esque plot twists; trust me, you will not be bored.

I also enjoyed how this movie discussed redneck stereotypes and how they affected Harding’s career. Harding was a symbol of white trash due to excessive labeling and stereotypes usually generated from judges. There aren’t too many movies about these types of biases. I completely support movies that discuss biases and stereotypes against minorities and this movie surprised me. I’ve never really seen anything about what white, blue-collar Americans experience and it was smart. Harding’s background severely affected her career even though she was white, which I would never have thought about. One thing this movie did not discuss at all was Harding’s personal political beliefs. Although I would have enjoyed more political themes in the movie, it wouldn’t have fit with the genre of the movie, so I understand why they weren’t included.

This film was pretty depressing at times. There are scenes of abuse. If that is a trigger for one as a viewer, I wouldn’t recommend going. By the end of the film, one really sympathizes with Tonya Harding and views this famous incident from a broader perspective. The viewers sees where Tonya comes from, the abuse in her family, and her blue-collar background.

Even though there are rough moments in the movie there are also happy ones. This movie is neither a feel-good nor a tragic movie, but rather a mixture. There are times when one watches and they feel as though they are on top of the world and then want to punch a wall. I experienced lots of emotions while watching this movie, but in the end I was inspired and angry. If you don’t enjoy frustrating movies, I would not recommend “I, Tonya.”

One of my criticisms for this film, though it is hard to accommodate, is that the representation of domestic abuse is introduced but not truly discussed. This could be looked at like an accurate portrayal since it’s always just in the background, but I would’ve enjoyed it if Robbie, who also directed the film, would have had a moment where Harding addressed it head-on, not in passing.

I am not a fan of movies that use domestic abuse as a plot device and “I, Tonya” didn’t, which I appreciate. Lots of horrible things happened to Harding that were not avenged in the movie or in reality, which is true but also depressing. If you are looking for a happy ending, this is not the right movie for you.

Overall, I really enjoyed Robbie’s acting and the portrayal of Harding’s story. Every film has its flaws, but there were very few in this movie. “I, Tonya” did an amazing job for the type of movie it is. I would rate it 8.4/10. Though there is little to analyze in this movie, it’s very entertaining to watch, and is perfect for a sick day.