This is a dark comedy told from the point of view of each of the characters involved in Olympic Figure Skater Tonya Harding’s life. And are they characters! Flawed in so many ways. But what makes this film interesting is that Director Craig Gillespie actually turns the camera, breaking the fourth wall and has the characters talk directly into the camera and to you, scripted by writer Steven Rogers (StepMom, Hope Floats). They describe Tonya, relationships and situations from their own perspective which is usually a different story. It was inspired by an interview he saw with Tonya and her husband Jeff where they didn’t agree on anything.
Hearing their stories is an effective tool and provides some very funny extrapolation of the attitudes and events in 1994. These and the other quirky characters actually deserve your nervous laughter for the silly, outrageous, and sometimes violent things they do.
Tonya Harding’s name became tarnished forever during those Olympic trials. That’s when her rival got whacked in the knee with a metal baton, painfully eliminating her from the competition. Harding was named the perpetrator, even though she knew nothing about it. It was her husband’s buddy who hired the guy to render figure skating darling, Nancy Kerrigan, disabled so Tonya could have a chance at Olympic Gold at Lillihammer, Norway. Her ace in the hole was being the only one who could successfully land a tremendously difficult triple axel. She wasn’t as graceful nor as pretty as Kerrigan, but she was an accomplished athlete. She was rough, tough and edgy, and this film shows you why.
Margot Robbie not only stars in this film but is a producer. She met with Tonya Harding whose advice was simply, “Do sit ups.” And when Harding saw the scene where Tonya flips the bird at the judges, which she did, Robbie also punctuates, saying “Suck my dick” in the film. Harding laughed and said, I wish I’d said that at the time. Robbie is not trying to imitate Harding in the film. First of all, she’s much prettier, and she had to alter her personality for the scenes where she’s seen through Jeff’s perspective. The actress says she created her own interpretation of the skater and was consistent throughout.
Robbie was not a skater, terrified of getting hurt and worked out 6 months training on skates. It was worth it. And editor, Tatiana S. Riegel put Nicolas Karakatsanis’ cinematography along with archive footage of the real Tonya skating her routines together well. You’ll be able to feel the tension of being on the ice with her and under extreme pressure. Robbie goes from being 15 to 45 in the film. Her early years with braces on her teeth are not quite as convincing, but she gets the point across showing how she was constantly slapped and beat down verbally by her Mom.
Allison Janney’s LaVona is amazing. Janney created the character herself after trying, unsuccessfully, to find Tonya’s Mom. LaVona is over-the-top mean, sarcastic and funny, smoking like a chimney with a pet bird on her shoulder nipping at her face. And all that is happening as she’s talking directly into the camera at you. She was a mother all right, but not the nice kind. Tonya didn’t have a chance and it is amazing she got as far as she did surrounded by such negativity.
But there’s more. Tonya hooks up with and marries Jeff Gillooly, played by Sebastian Stan (Logan Lucky, Captain America: Civil War, The Martian). She probably got married to try to get away from Mama. Because of her childhood, Tonya is always looking for love and validation.
Tonya and Jeff love each other and show it with some pretty hot scenes. But there’s a lot of fighting, too. She’s tough and he’s a loser who has no problem dishing out domestic violence.
Jeff’s got a close friend who is super weird. Shawn Eckhardt, played by Paul Walter Hauser is put in charge of security for Tonya as she gets gains fame. Shawn is a super paranoid nut case . He’s the frightening master mind who dreams up the plot to make it easier for Tonya to win. Frightening.
Because of what her husband and his hair-brained looney buddy did to Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya was banned from figure skating for life and went to court. She had to pay damages and do community service, too. From then on she was considered tabloid material, white trash, all things negative. Much of it she blames on harsh coverage by the media. Tonya didn’t need the media to beat her down. She was constantly getting that kind of treatment from those close to her. Even LaVona pulled a stunt to get paid for material on her own daughter.
Robbie’s characterization isn’t far off from her role in Suicide Squad which is cooking up a sequel starring Jared Ledo as the Joker. That role has garnered her many fans even though she describes herself as a “beautiful mess” and likes playing those roles. Even though she’s drop dead gorgeous, she’s plays that down to play pathetic underdogs, but you have sympathy for.
Robbie and Gillespie changed the ending of the film. It’s not a happy one. Not able to skate any more, the filmmakers wanted to show how she did what she had to and continued to be tough and defiant. It shows her becoming a boxer to make money. In reality, Tonya is now happily married to someone else and has a son she adores.
The film is timed to come out during the ramp-up for the 2018 Winter Olympics and will bring back memories for those who followed it at that time. In any case, it’s been called a fun mockumentary with flawed, off the wall characters who each tell their own side of the story. Robbie is too pretty to be Tonya but still pulls it off. Allison Janney is exceptional and memorable as a witch of a Mom. Both soar, score and nail the landing on film instead of ice.
30 West/Neon 119 minutes R
