15 Average Oscar Bait Films Elevated By Amazing Performances
11. I, Tonya
There are a Lot of issues with I, Tonya, a darkly comedic biopic about ice skater Tonya Harding and the infamous scandal which got her banned from skating for life. It's incredibly ugly, it distorts history, it's unpleasant as opposed to powerful and it makes every effort to manipulate viewers into feeling sorry for someone who was, in reality, almost certainly guilty of an awful crime.
Still, it's impossible to dismiss I, Tonya regardless of the sour taste it leaves behind. Margot Robbie is tremendous as Tonya Harding and gives her best performance to date and Allison Janney's Oscar-winning performance as Harding's abusive mother is an extraordinary piece of villainous acting. Sebastian Stan is also excellent as Harding's husband at the time, Jeff Gillooly.
I, Tonya will still move you at times, but that's only thanks to these fearsome performances. Without Margot Robbie, Allison Janney and Sebastian Stan doing such hard-hitting work, the film would've been dead in the water.