"I, Tonya" (2017) Film Review

 “I, Tonya” gives audiences a different look into what really happened on that rink in 1994.

Directed By: Craig Gilespie

Rated: R

Runtime: 2:01

Review By: Livi Edmonson

Dazzling audiences with its tough love humor and retro spunk, “I, Tonya” is a biopic that stars Margot Robbie as the extremely gifted figure skater, Tonya Harding. At the age of “a soft four”, Tonya’s abusive and controlling mother, LaVona (played by Allison Janney), puts Tonya in skating class with one of the best coaches in Portland, raising her to be a champion in the harshest way possible. Sure enough, Tonya begins to win competitions against girls twice her age.

Though she was often criticized for not displaying enough grace, class, and elegance in her skating routines, in 1991, Tonya Harding became the first American woman to complete and nail a triple axel during a competition. However, scandal occurs three years later when Tonya’s ex-husband/significant other, Jeff Gilooly (played by Sebastian Stan), conspires with a friend to injure Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya’s opponent.

Tonya Harding was always a controversial skater. People either loved her or hated her. But with the Nancy Kerrigan scandal, as well as the terrible allegations surrounding it, the whole country turned against Tonya, destroying her legacy and taking away the one thing she loves: skating.

                                    Sebastian Stan and Margot Robbie in "I, Tonya" courtesy of Neon Productions.

I think the main lesson that “I, Tonya” teaches its audience is this: there are two sides to every story. In 1994, America heard the Harding-Kerrigan story from the press and the media. But in 2017, America was able to hear the story from Tonya herself, through film.

Nancy Kerrigan’s attack was of course, extremely tragic and uncalled for, but what most people do not know is that she was only assaulted once, while Tonya Harding was attacked and assaulted her whole entire life.

Yes, Tonya surrounded herself with questionable peers, especially her abusive, psychotic significant other, Jeff Gilooly. But Tonya was practically born into the abusive lifestyle, seeing that her mother abused her both physically and mentally her whole life, even going as far as to throw a knife at her once during a heated fight. The point is that violence followed Tonya everywhere she went, which is something that in many ways, she couldn’t help.

The actors in the film do a magnificent job with their absolutely spot-on, uncanny portrayals of the real life people. Margot Robbie is very convincing as the unruly Harding, while Sebastian Stan is just as convincing with his violence-charged performance as the mustache-d Gilooly. However, Allison Janney as Tonya Harding’s mother, is by far, the scene stealer of the film. Janney is undoubtedly always hilarious in all of her roles, but there is just something special about what she adds to this specific character of LaVona that has her on route to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress this year.

                                                   The cast and crew of "I, Tonya' at Toronto International Film Festival.

In conclusion, “I, Tonya” is an overall entertaining film, because it not only is an insane true story, but also gives us some of film’s best performances this year. If you were able to witness this crazy scandal in the 1990’s, do not miss out on this film. But, even if you weren’t able to witness it, or perhaps not even alive during it, now is your time to see a film that shows you two things: what the public witnessed and what the real people behind the scandal witnessed.

Again, there are two sides to every story and I guess you will just have to see the film to decide whose story you believe.

                               The cast and crew of "I, Tonya" with Tonya Harding at the premiere of "I, Tonya".