I, Tonya

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.

Broadly well-received, the film earns most of its praise through the energy of its performances — particularly Allison Janney's ferocious LaVona — and its willingness to treat Harding's story as both dark comedy and class tragedy. The sharpest critical fault line runs through the film's relationship to its subject: admirers felt the filmmakers balanced affectionate mockery with genuine empathy, while detractors argued the working-class milieu is played for laughs in a way that ultimately replicates the condescension the film claims to critique. A smaller but notable strand of criticism came from journalists who covered the real events and felt the film bent facts to flatter Harding.