I did watch it, because I couldn't quite believe they made Tonya into a hero. The moment I found her despicable was when she skated over to the judges after failing to land the triple and complained about her laces. I wondered if the actress would capture that whiny little girl who was playing the victim so obviously and obnoxiously. No -- her performance was totally sympathetic. That wasn't the real Tonya. They gave her the extra chance, and she still couldn't do it.
I come from the Portland area, and she was billed as the poor little girl who could. The one who overcame odds, who had to appear in handmade costumes. Whose mother had scraped and saved to get her the training to get her where she was. We were behind her until Kerrigan got whacked, Gilhooley and his goofy friend got implicated, and all of Tonya's statements looked shifty-eyed and sounded guilty as sin. Yes, she still had some support, but it was waning.
This much the story had right -- after her right to ever participate in skating was over, she kept trying to regain that fifteen minutes. I can't remember what all she tried, but the general population just rolled her eyes. The last pitiful attempt was as lead singer in a bad rock band. And no, Tonya can't sing. I remember asking if she would ever just go away -- and that's about the way they reported it. After that, she remained in obscurity until this movie came out.
Oh, one last thing -- they made that last Olympic costume look a lot less revealing than it was. That deep, wide panel was semi-sheer, and it was considered trailer trash tacky. She didn't deserve this image rehabilitation. And as others have mentioned, she lacked the grace on ice to have ever been #1. And she seemed incapable of taking personal responsibility for anything while telling transparent lies. The public just doesn't like people like that, so they gave her a whitewash.
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