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| Sebastian Stan & Margot Robbie (r) star in I, Tonya |
Feels Like the First Time
Rotten Tomatoes Plot: Based on the unbelievable, but true events, I, Tonya is a darkly comedic tale of American figure skater, Tonya Harding, and one of the most sensational scandals in sports history. Though Harding was the first American woman to complete a triple axel in competition, her legacy was forever defined by her association with an infamous, ill-conceived, and even more poorly executed attack on fellow Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan. Featuring an iconic turn by Margot Robbie as the fiery Harding, a mustachioed Sebastian Stan as her impetuous ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, a tour-de-force performance from Allison Janney as her acid-tongued mother, LaVona Golden, and an original screenplay by Steven Rogers, Craig Gillespie's I, Tonya is an absurd, irreverent, and piercing portrayal of Harding's life and career in all of its unchecked (and checkered) glory.
Robbie is sensational as "the Charles Barkley of ice skating" in Gillespie's dark, dark comedy I, Tonya. Be warned, it's downright brutal at times (the nonchalant spousal abuse kept it off our year-end Top 10) but it's still one of the best films of 2017, and features two surefire Teacher's Pet noms/winners (Robbie, Janney.) Janney's particularly superb as the ultimate "Devil Woman," who complains on screen about her disappearing storyline, in between cigarette drags. Miles above Battle of the Sexes as a female sports biopic, even without a happy ending. Great soundtrack too, and a fast/riveting two hours.
Grade: B+
