Review: I, Tonya (2017) ★★★

There is something inherently cheap about biographical dramas concerning contemporary figures, particularly living figures. If I watch Marie Antoinette (2006), I may feel that there are historical inaccuracies, or praise it for portraying significant events with the proper amount of reverence, but anything I say will be, at least in part, uninformed; similarly, anything a filmmaker does to reproduce the life of someone in the distant past requires some artistic license, as we can only know so much about the times, and people who occupied them. There is a shroud of mystery, and thus we are left to interpret their artistic merit. So, when a film like I, Tonya (2017) comes along, portraying a woman whose time in the spotlight can still be remembered by large swathes of the population, there is a sense that the filmmakers are just blandly recounting the events, like a sports announcer giving us play-by-play coverage. Granted, in this particular case, inaccuracy and blatant fiction are an integral part of the script.

The film begins with text justifying these liberties by stating that, due to conflicting accounts from various parties, the chaos behind Tonya Harding’s meteoric rise is still shrouded in mystery, now more legend than anything else. Despite this warning, we know that there were investigations, and there were hundreds of news reports, so the basic facts remain intact, making the film feel somewhat unnecessary and forced. It’s only the underlying messiness that is up for interpretation, and it is the hope of the filmmaker’s that that is all audiences would want to see anyway.

The film follows Tonya from a young age, when her mother strong-arms a prominent skating coach into taking her daughter on as a student despite her young age. Her mother, LaVona (Allison Janney), is ruthless, belittling Tonya in the hopes that this will make her a star figure skater. As Tonya grows into a young adult (played by Margot Robbie), she seems to both love and hate skating. She loves it because she is good at it, but hates it because it is the only thing her mother allows her to do. One day while out on the ice, Tonya meets Jeff (Sebastian Stan), an awkward young man who has taken a special interest in her. Against her mother’s wishes, Tonya begins a tumultuous relationship with him, one that continues on and off throughout her career, culminating in the investigation into the attack on rival skater, Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver).

There is nothing particularly remarkable about I, Tonya other than its outlandish (but moderately factual) story. Despite its many Academy Award nominations, there is very little substance to be found in the script. Tonya Harding’s story is certainly interesting and warrants further review, but the film is similar in its approach as most other biopics made in the last 20 years. It also bares a striking resemblance in style and pacing to Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which also features Robbie, oddly enough. Director Craig Gillespie clearly took inspiration from Scorsese’s superior work, but lacked the vision to make his film (or script) a memorable one.

For a biographical drama, I, Tonya is surprisingly disinterested in its main subject. About halfway through the film, the story shifts almost completely away from Tonya to focus on the behind-the-scenes machinations of Jeff and his pathetically inept friend, Shawn (Paul Hauser). Unfortunately, this is actually where the story picks up steam, as the beginning half of the script just recycles the same points made in the first 20 minutes or so: Tonya has a complicated relationship with her mother, Tonya has a complicated relationship with skating, and Tonya has a complicated relationship with Jeff. The backstory of the attack on Nancy Kerrigan is actually a welcome change from the predictable introduction. It actually got to the point where I was far more interested in Shawn’s character than I ever was in Tonya’s, if only because his performance was so funny and ridiculous that I found it hard to believe he was based on a real person.

At a certain point, I, Tonya actually becomes a very entertaining film, mostly due to the inherent peculiarity of the story on which it was based. However, contemporary retellings of (relatively) contemporary events are hard to pull off without seeming cheap and opportunistic. There is a nostalgia for the 90s going around that Hollywood has picked up on, so I’m sure there will be plenty more scripts cashing in on the craze, though it doesn’t make the filmmakers seem any less avaricious in their intent. Nonetheless, if you are a fan of Tonya Harding, or fascinated by her story, or simply nostalgic for the 90s, then I, Tonya is worth your time. If not, there are certainly far superior biopics out there.

Rating: ★★★ out of 5

If you’d like to watch I, Tonya, the full movie is available to rent or purchase via Amazon here.