I, Tonya (2017)
2017
R
121 Minutes
Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
User Review
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WHAT I LIKED: 'I, Tonya,' is engaging mostly thanks to Margot Robbie and her surrounding cast members, as everyone here delivers magnetic performances that keep you hooked from start to finish, but the film also tries to do something rather interesting with its central story. Yes rather than simply making an ordinary biopic, Craig Gillespie attempts to turn the whole thing here into a tragicomedy about how the lines between truth and lies can be so easily blurred. The result is something that's often difficult to watch but also very amusing with fourth-wall breaking commentary that attempts to play things in a documentary style, but the best moments are still those where the characters are seriously developed - especially when we see Tonya on the ice.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The problem is that this intent behind the truth vs lies idea is mostly lost in translation as the majority of these discussions are literally tagged on in the form of interviewed sections. This not only detracts from the potential thematic and emotional impact of the film, it also isolates the core plot which isn't actually that interesting outside of its character explorations.
VERDICT: The character-building in 'I, Tonya,' is done exceedingly well by this stellar cast, but the delivery of the story lacks some finesse to tie all the intentions together into the emotional and thematically-rounded package that the film clearly wants to be.0 member like this review.
