Mr. Movie: ‘I, Tonya’ is a gold-medal comedy

‘I, Tonya’

I, Tonya is the Tonya Harding story as a comedy. Those who lived through the Harding disaster and the knee whacking of ice skating rival Nancy Kerrigan — especially Kerrigan, the U.S. Olympic figure skating honchos and the cops and the courts — don’t particularly remember Harding’s saga as being all that funny.

Writer Steven Rogers (Love the Coopers) and director Craig Gillespie (2011’s Fright Night, Lars and the Real Girl) start their film with Margo Robbie’s Tonya explaining why she’s so misunderstood. From there the story weaves back and forth from the skater’s childhood to being barred from competitive skating for life.

You likely are somewhat familiar with Harding’s saga. Dressing more like trailer-trash than a serious competitor in the elegant sea of women ice skaters, Harding’s do-it-my-way attitude made her one of the best skaters in U.S. history.

Competition in ice skating is serious, and Harding had trouble being taken seriously by judges. To level the playing field — so to speak — Harding’s then-husband Jeff Gillooley and his buddy Shawn Eckhardt plotted to remove Kerrigan from competition so Harding would be assured of a gold medal at the Olympics.

Their bumbling attack planning pointed immediate arrows at Harding, who is the first woman to ever land a triple Axel in skating competition.

The most interesting parts of the film are Harding’s relationship with her narcissistic mother. She’s done hard-as-nails by an emotionless, monotoned Allison Janney. Both Janney and Robbie — who is also wonderful in the role — lock down their performances with on-camera “interviews” explaining their character’s points of view and how they are picked on and misunderstood.

A Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild and other award nominations followed for Robbie and Janney, though — unbelievably — the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t nominate the movie for an Oscar. Janney won a Golden Globe and the SAG award for best supporting actress and is the odds on favorite to take home the Oscar.

Why all the positive attention to a very negative story? It’s flat out funny, brilliantly written, and the actors dial in great performances. Plus, Robbie (Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad) does a lot of her own skating.

This is the last of last year’s best films to make it to Tri-Cities movie screens. You’ll want to see this one and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water, which are all on screens in the area.

Regal Cinemas has vowed to show all of the best picture nominees on its screens between now and the Oscar telecast on March 4. This week it is reopening Darkest Hour, which features Gary Oldman’s likely Oscar-winning performance as Winston Churchill.

Other best picture nominees on Tri-Cities screens include Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. It features Daniel Day-Lewis’ last performance. The acclaimed — though not by me — Call Me By Your Name can also still be seen in Tri-Cities. One of my favorites of the year, Watergate-era The Post, and best animated feature nominee Coco are also playing here.

I can’t remember a time when so many Oscar nominees were on Tri-Cities screens at one time this close to the telecast. It’s movie heaven if you’re a fan.

▪ Rated R for language and mature themes. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Pasco 12.

▪ Rating: 5 out of 5

Another Mr. Movie Kennewick Community Education Class

Though the class description calls me a “former” movie critic from the Tri-City Herald, I’m doing another Kennewick Community Education class. Instead of watching a movie and then doing a class, we’re going to look at some of my favorite scenes from a variety of movies.

After each scene, we’ll discuss why these scenes are among the best written, shot or acted in movie history.

The best thing about this class — or any class I’ve done — is learning that we’re all movie critics and that there is no right or wrong when it comes to why you like a movie and I don’t, and vice versa.

Don’t miss this class. I have some great clips picked out. The class is Feb. 24 and runs from 2:30 to 4 p.m. The cost is $17.

Here’s a link to sign up and to get more information. BTW, class size is limited, so sign up soon.

Kennewick Community Education: kennewick.coursestorm.com/course/602s18-director-s-cut

This story was originally published February 1, 2018 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘I, Tonya’ is a gold-medal comedy."