Starring
Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson,
Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Cannavale, Caitlyn Carver, Ricky Russert.
Directed by Craig Gillespie. (2017/119 min).
In my neck of the woods (Portland, Oregon), former figure skater and Olympic washout Tonya Harding has become
something of an urban legend. Being from our hometown, she was a
constant media lightning rod even before the Nancy Kerrigan
incident. Since then, reports of Tonya sightings still pop up from time
to time...working as a stripper, living in a trailer by the Columbia
River, etc. Like those who claim to have spotted Sasquatch, most are tall-tales. But the infrequent occasions when she does return to the local spotlight are usually under dubious circumstances.
I, Tonya, however, has everyone talking about Harding again, and not just in her hometown. Though it doesn't paint a flattering portrait, I imagine she's still grateful for the attention. After all, this woman once tried to prolong her fleeting fame by getting in the boxing ring with other has-beens. Harding may have been a public punchline for the past 25 years, but
she's been a trainwreck her entire life. That's common
knowledge, though, and if I, Tonya had gone the traditional bio route, we'd have gotten nothing we hadn't already seen & heard a million times.
But
the fun of I, Tonya lies in its amusingly-unreliable
narrators, of which Harding (Margot Robbie) is just one. Her
estranged ex-husband, Jeff (Sebastian Stan) has a say, as does
Tonya's vindictive mother, LaVona (Allison Janney), her dumbass "bodyguard," Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser), and
even tabloid TV producer Martin Maddox (Bobby Cannavale). They are
consistently contradicting each other's version of events leading
up to and surrounding the infamous assault on Nancy
Kerrigan (who's merely an incidental character here).
 |
| "Would you please stop calling me Bucky?" |
I,
Tonya makes no pretense of being an authentic biography, nor is
anything presented as indisputable fact. The entire narrative
intentionally keeps us questioning the validity of every scene, with its
suspicious characters presented as amalgams of their real-life counterparts and exaggerated caricatures. Though Harding herself is the de-facto protagonist (an unfortunate product of her environment),
none of these folks are particularly likable. But neither was anyone
in Goodfellas, to which this film is often stylistically
compared.
 |
| Tonya smells cookies. |
Like
Scorsese's classic, I, Tonya is a flamboyant, whirlwind tale
of a life spiraling out of control, featuring characters who are as
unpleasant as they are stupid, but morbidly fascinating nonetheless.
Robbie is arguably too pretty to be completely convincing as the
title character, especially with Harding being more instantly
recognizable than Henry Hill ever was. But since the film makes no
claims of historical accuracy, it remains a remarkable performance.
Trumping even Robbie, though, is Janney, who makes LaVona one of the
most hateful antagonists I've recently seen who doesn't actually kill anyone.
These two ladies have garnered so much critical praise that Sebastian
Stan's efforts have largely gone unheralded. However, he's effective
as both an amusingly dimwitted rube and despicably abusive spouse
(or is he?).
Punctuated
by a killer soundtrack, I, Tonya is a fast-moving, darkly comic
spin on one of the most notorious scandals in sports history. If you're
looking for the straight story, forget about it. We've already had
enough of that, anyway (especially here in Portland). What the film does do is creatively re-imagine
the circus - and its clowns - that surrounded the incident in the first place. Watching a living trainwreck has seldom been this much fun.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES:
"All Sixes: The Perfect Performances of I, Tonya";
"Irony Free, Totally True: The Story Behind I, Tonya";
"Working with Director Craig Gillespie"; "The Visual
Effects of I, Tonya" (which are actually quite amazing);
"VFX: Anatomy of a Triple Axel" (ditto)
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - By director Craig Gillespie
DELETED
SCENES
TRAILERS
DVD
& DIGITAL COPIES
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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