I, Tonya

Plot: The story of Olympic skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), who is infamous for the attack on  rival Nancy Kerrigan prior to the 1994 Olympic trials. It is told in flashback by actors playing older versions of the characters including Tonya's mother LaVonna (Allison Janney), husband Jeff (Sebastian Stan), and low-friend Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser.)  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: I, Tonya a bio-pic telling Tonya's story before deep-diving into the kneecapping incident on rival Nancy Kerrigan. It is interesting because of the strange characters especially Tonya's bitter and irritable mother LaVonna, played wonderfully by Allison Janney. The drama turns on delusional friend Shawn who is wonderfully played by Hauser. Instead of playing a prank, Shawn decides to play James Bond. Shawn is the pathetic center of the plot. The emotional center is LaVonna, Tonya's mom. She is mean, bitter, and selfish. Her treatment of Tonya makes us sympathetic for Tonya. It helps explain why Tonya stays in an abusive relationship with Jeff.

Writer Rogers blames Harding's working class origins as the real source of the problem. Initially, he runs down the other skaters as too privileged, and later blue-collar American culture is blamed for poor sportsmanship and ineptitude. In reality there are many blue collar Americans with strong character and many upper class villains.

In these #MeToo times, the abuse that Tonya received from fruitcake husband Jeff deserves extra comment. Is poverty an excuse for domestic violence? Tonya's life reminds me the abuse by gymnastics doctor Larry Nasser.

It is humorous to think of Shawn and LaVonna as a hopeless losers, and that serves the interest of the plot. I think Shawn was mentally-ill, and it stops being funny when you think about it too much. He does think he is secret agent after all. LaVonna was probably an alcoholic.

Where are we after it all? Entertained by the acting. Impressed by the special effects. Rethinking the role of poverty in making people miserable.

I wonder if Tonya would have admitted everything and then blamed mentally-ill Shawn. 

Cast: Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, Paul Walter Hauser

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Written by: Steven Rogers

The Music: Mostly 1980's music

The Visuals: The skating scenes realistically show actress Margot skating. The movies are smooth and faster -- faster than the real Tonya did them. This was impressive, and I'd like to see how they did it. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Good acting; Entertaining. No extra points for social commentary because it gets that wrong. 

 

More: I finally understand what a triple Axel is.

Even More: Here is the real Tonya

.

.

.

SaveSave