Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.6/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.86/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Metacritic: 77
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director
Craig Gillespie
Production
LuckyChap Entertainment, Clubhouse Pictures
Cast
Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Cannavale, Bojana Novaković, Caitlin Carver, Maizie Smith, Mckenna Grace, Suehyla El-Attar Young, Jason Davis, Mea Allen, Cory Chapman, Amy Fox, Cara Mantella, Joshua Mikel, Lynne Ashe, Steve Wedan, Brandon O'Dell
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, bruising, darkly funny character study that turns a tabloid scandal into a story about class, abuse, performance, and the way public narratives get weaponized. It’s entertaining, but the real draw is Margot Robbie’s volatile lead performance and Allison Janney’s scene-stealing turn.
Best for
Viewers who like darkly comic biographical dramas
Audiences interested in messy antiheroes and unreliable storytelling
Fans of performance-driven films about class and media spectacle
People who want a sports movie that is more about psychology than competition
Skip if
You want a straightforward inspirational sports drama
You dislike mockumentary-style storytelling and tonal whiplash
You prefer films that stay emotionally warm or morally tidy
You’re looking for a conventional true-crime account with strict factual sobriety
Overview
I, Tonya is a nasty, funny, and surprisingly sad portrait of a woman who was never allowed to become a clean public symbol. The film uses a fractured, interview-driven structure to show how every version of Tonya Harding gets filtered through other people’s cruelty, bias, and self-justification. That approach gives the movie its bite, but also its empathy.
Worth noting
Craig Gillespie keeps the tone in a tricky place: part satire, part melodrama, part sports movie. The skating scenes have real propulsion, but the movie is most memorable when it leans into the absurdity of the people around Tonya and the emotional damage underneath the jokes. It’s a film about talent colliding with bad luck, bad choices, and a culture eager to reduce a person to a headline.
Bottom line
Margot Robbie anchors the movie with ferocity and vulnerability, while Allison Janney delivers one of the film’s most unforgettable supporting performances. The result is a crowd-pleaser with teeth: funny enough to entertain, sharp enough to sting, and humane enough to linger after the scandal itself fades.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Kevin Y (3.5★) · 22472 likes
There's a scene where Tonya's voiceover says "I was 15" and then we see full grown Margot Robbie and it's probably the funniest moment in 2017 cinema.
Cassie (4★) · 15003 likes
Men ruin everything.
ella (4.5★) · 14119 likes
“she wants everyone to know she is a good mother” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
#1 gizmo fan (4★) · 9833 likes
I cry everytime I see the video of her landing the triple axel.
That's truly who Tonya was. She wasn't the evil villain to America's twisted story of fame, nor was she a redneck, a hillbilly, or a white trash girl with no education. She was that triple axel. She was the buildup to it, and the falling out after it. She was the doubt, the inspiration, and the feeling everyone across the world had when she landed it. After… more
Erik 🎼 (4.5★) · 7646 likes
tonya’s husband this whole movie: ok but what if nobody assaulted nancy kerrigan and her knee just did that
2017 · Drama, Crime · 2h 21m · R · Curator 5.6/10 (462.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A fast, polished true-story drama about a woman navigating power, public judgment, and a system eager to define her from the outside.
2010 · Drama · 1h 56m · R · Curator 7.6/10 (688.8K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A Massachusetts-set sports drama about family dysfunction, class pressure, and the cost of survival in a competitive arena.