Review: I, Tonya

The story of figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) who comes from a trailer trash existence with her pushy and cold-hearted mother (an Oscar-winning Allison Janney), and eventually gets herself into a violent marriage with a thug named Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan). The film paints these influences as black-hatted villains, and shows Tonya as a well-meaning, physically abused young woman who had little to no knowledge of the conspiracy to take out rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.

One of the most disappointing and wrong-headed films of 2017, this recounting of a frankly disgraceful and trashy (yet riveting) moment in sports history was never going to be my friend. Aussie director Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”) and mediocre screenwriter Steven Rogers (“Stepmom”, “Hope Floats”) completely foul up a sure thing here by taking it too easy on its title character, as well as adopting a completely wrong tone that leaves a talented cast mostly hung out to dry. In theory, I can understand why this has been turned into an exaggerated comedy, something in between “Drop Dead Gorgeous” and a Christopher Guest mockumentary. However, I just think the real-life story is trailer trash soap opera enough already so that you don’t need to make it intentionally funny. Nor should you. Aside from ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in his hilarious song parody ‘Headline News’, I don’t believe this real-life story is inherently funny.

This film and its chosen tone get very problematic early on when you see just how horrible Tonya Harding’s mother treats her. Abuse isn’t funny, and the filmmakers seem to think it’s hilarious. Why do I think they find it funny? ‘Coz they continue to try to yuk it up once spousal abusing piece of shit  Jeff Gillooly turns up in the film, played mostly as a comedic idiot ne’er do well like something out of a Christopher Guest film or Ricky Gervais TV show. His bumbling idiot cohort Shawn Eckhardt is the real idiot ne’er do well, so Paul Walter Hauser correctly plays him as one here. But Gillooly was/is a spousal abusing thug and not remotely funny. I won’t say I didn’t laugh at all, as there’s an hilarious bit of romantic patter set to Dire Straits’ superlative working class version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. It’s the one bit of satire in the film that works. But it’s just one bit. The rest is a failure, because it’s at once trying to condescend and take the piss out of Tonya whilst also trying to be sympathetic to her. Actually, there is one other bit I liked: Tonya doing a routine set to ZZ Top’s ‘Sleeping Bag’ is hysterical, and I say that as a ZZ Top fan.

Margot Robbie looks nothing like Tonya but gets the voice right, Sebastian Stan looks enough like Jeff Gillooly as well. However, the approach just does nothing to help either actor. It’s a complete and total miscalculation, though Allison Janney is talented enough that although she’s playing a complete caricature she’s at least hard to ignore. I won’t say she’s the reason to watch the film, because there is no reason to watch it when there’s a perfectly fine (and more honest) ESPN documentary out there. However, it’s an entertaining performance in a film that frankly isn’t entertaining. That said, even her best moment – remarking to camera: ‘Well MY storyline is disappearing right now. What. The. Fuck’. – is right after a scene of domestic violence, so I can’t even quite enjoy that. It also helps that Harding’s mother in real-life sounds like not all that much of an exaggeration, to be honest. She sounds awful, biased storytelling here or not.

Another problem with the approach the filmmakers take here is that it’s not just soft on Harding, it’s naïve or at worst, completely bullshit about her. The filmmakers absolve Tonya of about 99% guilt and at one point even seem to claim that Jeff Gillooly didn’t know about the attack! At another point, Harding puts the finger of blame at us the audience for being her abusers as well. If the real Tonya is responsible for that moment…fuck you, Tonya. If not, fuck you whoever came up with that. Robbie (who disagrees with the rest of the world and apparently believes Tonya is innocent!), as scripted players her as too much of a victim and doesn’t particularly impress outside of capturing one very famous bit of post-routine satisfaction that we’ve all likely seen the footage of. Yeah, Tonya had a shit life full of shit people, but she’s a piece of shit herself who refuses to own up to her part in the crime. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I therefore have zero sympathy for her. Jeff Gillooly was unquestionably a monster, but for Tonya and the filmmakers to suggest that Nancy Kerrigan was less of a victim than Tonya? Fuck you, whoever came up with that idea, too.

I know the film doesn’t state that it’s meant to be taken as 100% truth, but the approach is just 100% wrong. The filmmakers misfire here by going the low and easy road of over-the-top satire and caricature, whilst also taking it far too easy on their subject. It’s wrong. All wrong. However, that’s what you get when it’s based on the separate accounts of Harding and Gillooly. Good soundtrack, though.

Rating: D+