I, Tonya

In The Early 90’s, Tonya Harding, was at one point, on top of the world as a figure skater, until she destroyed her career for involvement on assaulting rival skater, Nancy Kerrigan. Because of her actions, a judge sentenced her a lifelong ban related to figure skating, thus ending her career like a building imploding to smithereens. Tonya eventually became a national laughing stock. Seinfeld’s Season 6 finale called, “The Understudy,” did a parody of the infamous scandal alongside her bootlace problem at The 1994 Olympics.

Two Decades Later, Margot Robbie (The Wolf Of Wall Street, Suicide Squad) portrayed Tonya Harding in a biographical dark comedy called, “I, Tonya,” which she also produced.

I, Tonya opened in selected theaters in 2017. Upon release, the film earned critical praise from critics and it made enough money at the box office. It went on to be nominated at The 75th Golden Globes and The 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards with Allison Janney winning Best Supporting Actress at both ceremonies.

Now that I, Tonya is selected as an eligible nominee at the upcoming 90th Academy Awards airing this March. I want to share my real thoughts on what’s good or bad about this particular biographical film.

The following review contains SPOILERS. Let’s be honest, we all know what happened to Tonya if you’ve seen the headlines involving that fateful day.

Qualified: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan & Allison Janney all did a fantastic job on their respective performances.

Dark humor in this biopic made me laugh uncontrollably.

The film is told in mockumentary-style (a la The Office) with the subject telling his or her story connected to Tonya, illustrated in flashbacks.

We get to see why Tonya was behind the assault against Nancy with the help of Jeff, her former on and off again husband and his incompetent friend who resembles an overweight adult version of Haley Joel Osmet.

Tonya’s chemistry between both Jeff & her mother is completely messed up than Chris Brown & Rhianna’s on & off again relationship, but this time cranked up to eleven. It’s depiction of domestic/child abuse is kinda brutal.

Primary Themes are Fame, Passion, Jealously, Abuse & Mass Media.

Soudtrack consists of music from The 70’s. I guess Margot was seeking some advice from Martin Scorsesse on how to pick the right song that fits perfectly in a specific scene.

David Letterman is shown on TV doing his Top 10 List by mocking Tonya.

The film recreates notable moments from Tonya’s career including her Triple Axel Technique, showing the judges her broken shoelace & Nancy yelling out… “WHY!”

Despite being labeled as a real life dark dramedy, some of the characters tend to “Break The Fourth Wall.”

Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” plays in one specific scene. This song was also featured in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2. Both films came out the exact same year.

After Tonya got banned from skating, she took a short career in female boxing.

Actual footage featuring the real Tonya is shown during The End Credits Sequence. It’s confirmed that Tonya is currently working at a metal fabrication company and she has a son. She’s gone from a somebody to a has-been.

Disqualified: Shaky Cam is mostly used in certain scenes. I’m giving it a pass, because the film is told in mockumentary format.

The Final Verdict: A, FOR APEX!

In my opinion, I, Tonya is a decent biographical dark dramedy that managed to keep me entertained without getting bored easily. If you’re interested in this movie or fascinated with figure skating, I strongly recommend it. As a reminder, don’t forget to mark your calanders this March for The 90th Academy Awards, don’t miss it! Well what are you waiting for, get off your butt and support this movie!