When you think of Tonya Harding(Robbie) or google her name what is the first
thing that comes to mind or pops up on the internet. If you said her association to
"the incident" : the leg bashing on January 6Th 1994 of her competitor, Nancy
Kerrigan and became the but of many jokes on television, vilified by the press and
those of us who watched this story. But here we learn more about the Tonya
Harding we never knew or bothered to know about. From the proverbial wrong
side of the tracks in Portland, Oregon Tonya was a naturally gifted in the sport of
figure skating from a young age. But this was not enough for the world of figure skating as she was not the ideal image they wanted for their competitors as she
did not possess the image of grace, breeding and privilege. But her shear will and
determination to succeed at her dream and prove that she belonged only drove
her to succeed at becoming a national champion, a world champion medalist, an
Olympian and being the first American woman to complete a Triple Axel in
competition. But it is her association to "the incident" that is what she become
most remembered for and what ultimately led to her being banned from
competitive figure skating for life. Her story begins at the age of four to the
aftermath of the incident. There many key people in her life that help tell her
story along with Tonya in interviews and while they all agree that the incident did
occur they may vary in their recollection of the detail . They are her abusive
waitress mother LaVona Golden(Janney) who pulled her daughter out of school to
focus solely on figure skating. She would often remind of Tonya that she paid for
her figure skating lessons and would abuse her emotionally physically and
mentally telling her she would never be good enough in any aspect of the word.
Her first and longest serving coach Diane Rawlinson( Julianne Nicholson) who for
good or bad let Tonya be Tonya in the way she presented herself to the figure
skating world. Her first husband Jeff Gillooly(Stan) who she had been with since
she was 15 and had turbulent and abusive relationship. Her bodyguard Shawn
Eckardt(Paul Walter Hauser) a not very bright man who believed himself to be a
bigger player in life than he actually was and who also was the mastermind in the
whole incident. Lastly was a Martin Maddox(Bobby Cannavale) a fictional
character that worked as a reporter for Hard Copy and gave some general
commentary of what the media wanted out of Tonya and the incident.
So what did you think of the descriptive of the plot of this movie? Sounds good right? Or are you still a little confused or on the fence about the movie? Well this movie to me was wonderfully written with a nice mix of drama and comedy thrown in telling the story of Tonya. The style used here was almost like a documentary style with each of the important characters in her life telling some details along with Tonya herself narrating and than we are shown visually through flashbacks. A style that does not work for a lot of movies but works here! The acting in this movie was great and the Oscar nominations given to Margot Robbie and Alison Janney for best Actress and supporting Actress were well deserved here. With both giving fantastic performances. From beginning to end this moviewas both entertaining and thought provoking giving you a look at the Tonya Harding we never knew. The story was filled nicely with humour but still able to tell a good dramatic story which can be hard to do if you don't have all the right elements which this movie did have! All in all a fantastic movie from start to finish! A must see for all! That is why I am giving I, Tonya a 8.0 on The Justin Scale Of Movies and giving it a spot on the Pick-It list of movies to see at the theatre. Well there you have it another movie review in the books and that means it is time to call it a wrap here! Until next time keep that popcorn freshly popped and save me a good seat because I will be seeing you at the movies!
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