Craig Gillespie has enjoyed a decade of marginal directing success with solid works that include Lars and the Real Girl, Million Dollar Arm and, to a lesser extent, The Finest Hours. Knowing that the talent has always been there, the filmmaker takes his career to a whole new level with the upcoming Oscar hopeful, I, Tonya. The Philadelphia Film Festival Opening Night selection didn't disappoint and, in fact, it not only set the bar for the entire 11-day long affair, I, Tonya sets the bar for the rest of the cinematic year.
Growing up as a self described redneck under the grueling and demanding guidance of her unaffectionate mother (Allison Janney), Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) drops out of school and dedicates her life to the sport of figure skating. But as she falls in love with a local buffoon named Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and becomes embroiled in a bitter and toxic relationship, Tonya also reaches new heights on the ice rink by making history as the first female skater to successfully land a triple axel in competition. Yet, when a rival U.S. skater named Nancy Kerrigan begins to pose a threat to her Olympic success, an "incident" occurs that will forever define Tonya's life.
Gillespie's wildly amusing and uber self-aware black comedy lures its audience by commanding a wide array of emotions. I, Tonya contains no shortage of laugh-out loud humor, often centered around copious amounts of stupidity and vulgarity, but the film also does a remarkable job of building empathy for its notorious title character. Margot Robbie delivers a career best performance, one that will, at the very least, land her in the Oscar discussion. Similarly, her onscreen matriarch, played phenomenally by Allison Janney, feels primed for some awards season success as well. And don't be fooled, I, Tonya is far from a movie about figure skating. Gillespie and screenwriter Steven Rogers dive deep into the background and upbringing of Tonya Harding with hopes of shining some clarity on the senseless pre-Olympic assault of Nancy Kerrigan that made Harding a nationwide headline. While a reliance on the most unreliable of sources ultimately leaves an open-ended debate as to the depth of Harding's overall involvement in the incident, I, Tonya plays to an uptempo beat and never shies away from an opportunity to break the fourth wall. Unapologetically profane and remarkably edgy, I, Tonya clearly stands out as one of 2017's finer films.
Stars: 3 stars out of 4
Grade: B+
The horror genre meets Groundhog Day in Christopher Landon's engaging new effort, Happy Death Day. We've seen this repetitious formula filter into the sci-fi/action genre with 2014's The Edge of Tomorrow, and it feels like such a natural fit for scary movies, making Happy Death Day's premise on odd combination of both familiar and original storytelling. But despite the film's creative foundation, the manner in which everything pieces together is less that satisfying.
When sorority queen Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) wakes up on her birthday in the dorm room of an underclassman named Carter (Israel Broussard), she instantly regrets all of her previous night's decisions. Yet, little does Tree know that Carter may be the only person on campus she can actually trust. As Tree continues on with the rest of her day, it ends in a grisly murder at the hands of a determined killer sporting a mask of the university's mascot. And when she awakes to the same morning routine in Carter's dorm room, she quickly finds herself forced to relive the day over and over again until she can correctly identify her killer.
Happy Death Day is short on scares and gore, evident by its limiting PG-13 rating. For an idea as clever and death-filled as this one, the film is sorely mishandled with its tame and subdued demeanor. Instead, Christopher Landon and writer and Scott Lobdell deliver a more teen-centric and fun endeavor than a truly horrific one. And as Tree falls victim to her mysterious killer over and over again, she gains a newfound perspective on life that helps transform a once cruel and superficial sorority sister into a more grounded and introspective young woman. This nice and pretty little bow that's tied to Happy Death Day's main character is certainly gratifying, yet a head-scratching journey to unlocking Tree's killer is riddled with red herrings and plot holes. While some of the story's misdirection works well in the moment, the most notable twist is in many ways unforgivably bad. Happy Death Day proves to be another immature horror effort that squanders an otherwise creative premise. Thankfully, a brisk pace and likable main characters allow Christopher Landon's latest to be, at worst, a tolerable experience.
Stars: 2 stars out of 4
Grade: C+
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