I, Tonya (2017) Neo Bio Noir On Skates.

"A White Trash Tragedy"

A Bio Noir that is a fantastically entertaining combo of ice-skating Noir Suspense (1946) (yes there was one), small time racketeering in The Setup (1949), the victim of circumstances of Detour (1945), the end of the professional road depicted in Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962), with the dimwit three stooges like shenanigans of the cheap crooks in Deadline At Dawn (1946), Manhandled (1949) Raising Arizona (1987), Wild At Heart (1990), Hit Me (1996), Fargo (1996), A Simple Plan (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), and Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007).

One of the bennies of watching a lot of Film Noir is that you become very familiar with a large range of actors from the classical period Noirs through the transitional Noirs to our current era of  Neo Noir who seem made for certain parts and they easily slip into certain shady characters like one would slip into a comfortable pair of slippers.

When you think of low rent, cheap, sleazy, slimy, weaselly crooks you think of Classic Noir actors Zachary Scott or Dan Druyea. In this film Zachary would get the nod he looks like the real Jeff Gilhoolie. Dan Seymore or Victor Buono would have made a good Shaun, Doro Merande or Agnes Moorhead as Tonya's mother, Tonya would have probably been played by Belita (the star of our ice skating Noir Suspense) but, if they could skate, I could see Shelly Winters or Barbara Stanwyck, in it or Joan Crawford with blonde hair.

Anyway, projecting the past performers upon this film in no way diminishes it.

Directed competently and stylishly by Craig Gillespie. The film was written by Steven Rogers and based on the sometimes contradictory interviews with all the participants. I, Tonya sort of depicts a modern take on the type of small time racketeering that in Classic Hollywood would have focused on boxing or horse racing. That it is about the "seedy underworld" of ice skating (who would of thunk it) makes it all the more hilarious. Aftermath interviews are displayed in 4:3 ratio.

Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding

It's follows the, believe it or not, life of figure skater Tonya Harding and her mistakes in judgment made during the 1994 attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan.

Caitlin Carver as Nancy Kerrigan

Tonya Harding was the first American skater to land a triple axel it's one of the most difficult skating moves.

Allison Janney as LaVona Golden

Julianne Nicholson as Diane Rawlinson

Maizie Smith as Tonya Harding (age 4)

Her early life was under the thumb of her dominating mother who pushed Tonya many times to her limit. Tonya's mom LaVona (who calls their kid Lavona BTW) is played to perfection by Allison Janney. Her coach Diane Rawlinson was played by Julianne Nicholson.

Mckenna Grace as young Tonya Harding

The incident all started when Tonya received a death threat at a competition. Gilhooly her bodyguard Shaun, and Tonya didn't take it seriously they just figured it was psychological warfare aimed at Tonya. Gilholly and Shaun cook up a scheme to send threatening letters to her arch rival skater Nancy Kerrigan. Tonya was in on the planning for that finding out where Nancy would be practicing for the address of where to send the letters.

Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gillooly, and  Paul Walter Hauser as Shawn Eckardt

Shaun the halfwit bodyguard points out that Gilhooly can't mail the letters from Portland since they would point back to them. Convincing Gilhooly that the best course would be to let Shaun send two of his "operatives" to the venue city to mail the letters there. It all goes Noirsville when Shaun changes the plan and has the operatives try and break Nancy's leg instead.

Noirsville 

None of these people aside from Harding's skating coach were dealing with a full deck.

Harding was banished for life from skating, but she developed for a brief while a tabloid fueled career. She released a sex tape of herself with her soon after the incident ex-husband Jeff Gillooly. Reportedly, she sold the tape to Penthouse magazine for an estimated $400,000. She competed as a professional boxer, tried being an actress, tried starting a band, got a DWI, and wrote a book.

Starring Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding, Mckenna Grace as young Tonya Harding, Maizie Smith as Tonya Harding (age 4), Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gillooly, Harding's lover and friend, later husband
Allison Janney as LaVona Golden, Harding's abusive mother, Julianne Nicholson as Diane Rawlinson, Harding's skating coach. Caitlin Carver as Nancy Kerrigan, Paul Walter Hauser as Shawn Eckardt, a bodyguard and friend of Gillooly, and Bobby Cannavale as Martin Maddox, a former Hard Copy reporter

It's a lot of fun to watch 9/10.