I, Tonya (Margot Robbie - Tonya Harding Bio)

It was a bit like David O. Russell wanting to be Martin Scorsese lite i.e American Hustle and Joy. I was waiting for his name to come up as I was so convinced it was him. But no it was Craig Gillespie, who directed some fine films like Lars and The Real Girl, Million Dollar Arm and The Finest Hours.

Overall, it's a decent watch that does overstay it's welcome with two great performances holding it together. Allison Janney as Tonya's Mother is a Oscar chewing role and she's very good, but Margot Robbie is fantastic as Tonya, they definitely don't shy away from her bad side but they do put across like she was the victim in it all. I'm not too sure I buy into Tonya been entirely innocent but the film does put that across. I always know Robbie was more then a pretty face, she does have her fair share of playing the Girlfriend or Wife role on her C.V, and her hit and miss rate is really off then on. But she's excellent in this and I wouldn't be shocked if she got a Oscar Nom at the most.

It does surprisingly enough lose it's way a bit when it gets to the Kerrigan incident, it's the least interesting part of the film for me. And I do agree with poster above me saying that CGI used is real bad. But it has a killer soundtrack (one of the best I've heard in a while) and is a enjoyable watch overall. 6/10

Watched it a few days ago..

Some brilliant performances in it..
Has Emma Stone a good chance of the Oscar??

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Two excellent performances by the two ladies.

Haven't seen it.

I saw the 30/30 documentary on the whole debacle a few years ago and was shocked to see Tonya Harding at the Golden Globes though, given that she was part of a plot to break a competitors legs. And she's now a bit of a hero (?)

I heard an interview a few days ago with winter olympics journalist who covered it all in great depth at the time and she's of the opinion that this film is playing very fast and loose with the truth.

Doesn't mean it's not a good movie, but I think there may be doubts about it's accuracy.

Excellent movie. Went a little too easy on Harding herself but they told the story they set out to tell very well. Robbie well ahead of McDormand, Ronan, Hawkins for actress in a leading role for me. Janney should be a lock too.

I enjoyed it but there were some things that weren't clear. It seemed like you needed to know the story already to understand some things.
I enjoyed it and thought any other year Margot Robbie would be a shoe in for the Oscar. But I think Frances McDormand will probably take it home.

Dream role for Alison Janney too.

^ pretty close to my thoughts on the movie

I'm never a fan of awards being handed out so easily to people who have so much source material to work off of. However, I suspect Janney is a shoe in to win.

I enjoyed the film over all and felt it was a good idea to give everyone's side of the story and let the audience decide. However, as someone mentioned above, I felt that it definitely painted Tonya as more of a victim than I reckon she was. I've also read some criticisms about how such a serious storyline (physical and psychological abuse, assault) was played down for laughs which may have some rings of truth to it.

Some musings:

• Kerrigan didn't break her knee as was thought at the time but bruised it.
• I wonder why the whole Tonya Harding sex tape fiasco was never mentioned?
• Kerrigan's carefully crafted media darling image began to turn after her sour puss face (from "only" winning silver) and also that she did not attend the closing ceremony of the games.
• Sean "the fatty" Eckhardt died in 2007 which is a pity as I'd say he would have loved 4Chan. Here's some film of the international spy:

Enjoyed it well enough. Janney was the standout, she was magnificent. Robbie was brilliant as well.

Agree above about some of the song choices, Romeo and Juliet was particularly on the nose.

I think Margot deserves some sort of award for her performance. She was great. Better than Frances McDormond I thought.
I still rate I Tonya better than 3 billboards or ladybird.

_Dara_ wrote: »

I really enjoyed this. I normally don't like biopics but this was a really good one. I like that it wasn't afraid to show her flaws eg. making excuses all the time.

There was just one thing I felt the film was missing: Tonya Harding came fourth and eighth in the field at the Olympics. This means she was in the upper echelons of the elite of figure skaters. To get to that point takes unbelievable amounts of focus and discipline. The film never really got down to showing or explaining how she was to do that, considering her personal life and the obstacles in her way. They showed her going to practice but I actually would have found it interesting to know her process for being able to focus and exclude all the shit that was happening in her life.

She was never really able to focus in competition. I think skating practice was first an escape from her mother and then an escape from her first husband. And it was something she was really, really good at and that she loved doing. Tonya Harding had huge amounts of natural talent. It's really hard to overstate that. No one could skate with her speed or power. No one in that era could jump like her, except for Midori Ito.

But she never really skated to her potential, except in 1991, which was the most stable year of her life. That year, she won US Nationals, beating Kristie Yamaguchi, the eventual 1992 Olympic champion, and Nancy Kerrigan. She also finished 2nd at the world championships. Her marriage was young and still happy and she'd finally escaped her mother.

But after 1991, her marriage became bad, she lost her focus and was never able to put up the performances she was capable of. 4th and 8th place were not triumphs for her - they were poor skates that lacked focus.

I think in this way, the film relied perhaps too heavily on the audience to know about the figure skating world at the time. For me, 8th place at the Olympics in anything would be a miracle. For Tonya Harding, it was a huge disappointment.

They also screwed up the sentencing. The same judge didn't sentence her to community service/probation and ban her from skating. The community service/probation came from her criminal trial where she made a plea deal, and part of that was withdrawing from the 1994 worlds and resigning from USFSA. She agreed to that, so there was no dramatic breakdown there.

A few months later, USFSA conducted their own investigation, determined that Tonya knew about the attack on Nancy Kerrigan prior to it happening and did nothing to stop it, and then handed her a lifetime ban from USFSA events, ending her amateur career or any hope of her coaching at a high level. She was not banned from professional skating events (which became very lucrative following the attack on Nancy Kerrigan), but she was effectively blacklisted from those because most of the skating community refused to work with her.

Just watched last night. Robbies performance was absolutely top notch, and in my opinion better than McDormand in Three Billboards. Both actors played absolute blinders but Robbie really blew me away with her performance.

An incredible, horrific tale of wasted talent that I had only heard about in bits and pieces before. A solid 8/10

Bit late to the party on this one, saw it last night and loved it. Not a bad moment in it, Scorcese nods for sure. In fact the only loose part was the timeframe around the Kerrigan "incident" - it wasn't overtly said that she didn't actually have her knee broken.

I would say, look up real footage of Tonya Harding - it's amazing. The footage where she actually completes the triple axel is astounding - she spins so fast you she's like a Tasmanian devil blur. It's quite emotional to see. Also the real footage of Kerrigan's attack, RIGHT AFTER IT HAPPENED, is something else. It does allude to her "attitude" afterwards. I also would've liked to have seen a nod to their "face to face" joint interview that took place in 1998 - the real thing makes for very uncomfortable viewing.

Robbie was amazing, as were the supporting cast. Music was good, loved the use of ZZ Top, but I think "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac has been overused in recent years.

watched it the other night

pleasantly surprised, excellent movie - great acting all round, the ice dancing sequences were amazing and a killer soundtrack

*just wonder did she really have no prior knowledge of the attack?