Reviews by Polly Pop

I finally have watched this movie and I can say I am deeply disappointed. I, as a big fan of figure ice skating was really thrilled about this movie and expected much more. If you don't know much about Tonya Harding's story, I suggest you read about her and watch some of her old and new interviews and you'll understand why I didn't like the movie.

One of the reasons is its screen script. There is no "official story" about what happened to Tonya Harding or Nancy Kerrigan. The script was written based on interviews with Tonya and her ex-husband, carried on by the screen writer himself. So, much of what is told in the movie is purely fictional, especially the parts about her mother, since she never agreed to talk to the screen writer or the production staff. Tonya herself said some parts of the movie were inaccurate, and Margot Robbie said that when she first read the script she thought it was about a fictional figure skater, not Tonya Harding.

Besides, many things in this movie remain unexplained. The movie is basically about the verbal, physical and moral abuse Tonya endured throughout her life, but shows too little how Tonya built her athletic and ice skating career. And regarding the Nancy Kerrigan controversy, there isn't much talked about, either. Nancy is just a shadow in this movie, there's nothing about her point of view or how the incident actually affected her or her career. In the end you feel that you don't really know what the life of Tonya Harding the ice skater was really like.

Regarding the direction, I found really tasteless Gillespie's attempt to give a comical tone in the NUMEROUS domestic violence scenes of the movie. The characters break the 4th wall to give the violent scenes a more 'casual' look (because according to Gillespie, Tonya talks about her violent past in a very casual manner), but cinematographically this 'casual tone' didn't work - it only makes it look like the movie romanticizes abuse and underestimates its impact on a woman's life. Also, the whole sarcastic/comical tone of the movie made it feel superficial, boring and childish. To me, a more serious approach to Tonya's life would be more appropriate.

And regarding Margot Robbie's performance, I found it very disappointing and amateurish. Regardless the fact that she's not as bulky or athletic as the real Tonya, she played a white trash, foul-mouthed Tonya Harding that never existed. Her interpretation of a redneck is purely stereotypical. Also, I don't know where Robbie's accent came from, since real-life Tonya doesn't have that strong southern accent - she's from Portland, come on! It's an annoying accent that appears and disappears throughout the movie, alongside with the numerous bad words (some of them included by Robbie herself) and a very artificial, rude way to talk that Harding didn't have. Robbie didn't convince me and made me feel NOTHING for her character.

On the other side, Allison Janney is BRILLIANT as Tonya's mother. She could flawless play a sociopath, and truly deserves at least an Oscar nomination as a supporting actress. Another good surprise in this movie is Paul Walter Hauser's acting.

To sum it all up, this is a mediocre movie, that didn't entertain me (how am I supposed to find funny a story with so much domestic violence?), and didn't move me. It also barely tells who in fact Tonya Harding was. It is a superficial, bidimensional portrait of a woman who's surely much more complex than what was shown in the movie.

The trailer and summary of this movie are absurdly misleading. They may make you think this is a beautiful movie about childhood and upbringing, just like Little Miss Sunshine, but it's definitely not like that.

Here, we have Halley, a terrible, irresponsible single mother who raises her 7-year-old daughter in the worst possible way in a motel in Florida. This woman says bad words in front of her daughter, feeds her with junk food all the time, doesn't teach anything useful or good. Besides, she prostitutes herself while her daughter takes a bath in the same room.

There are no redeeming qualities about Halley. The movie fails to raise empathy for her and for her obnoxious daughter, since it fails to accurately and efficiently develop its characters. I understand this movie tried to show child abuse from a different perspective, but it ended up being empty and shallow. All we see is hyperactive children being obnoxious to everybody and running errands , while their mothers and parents are absent and irresponsible. No background of any character whatsoever. No psychological profile. Only a mother who throws fits when things don't go her way and her daughter who behaves the same way.

When you're recording a movie about child abuse and negligence, you have to make sure you'll either make the audience feel some kind of empathy for the child or for the mother. In here, we don't have any. The movie focused too much action on WHAT the characters do, and not WHY the characters do it.

Willem Dafoe was basically wasted in this movie. Such a marvelous, talented actor should never be hired just to have a supporting role as a motel manager while the rest of the cast with their mediocre performances have much more screen time. I honestly don't see anything special about Brooklynn Price's performance. She behaved like a kid, nothing groundbreaking about that. And Bria Vinaite as Halley only threw fits and gave the middle finger to people - I won't judge too harshly her performance though, because the main flaw here is the screen script, not her performance - she had to work with what she was given.

Cinematography is fine, and so is photography. Beautiful color palette that makes us remind of the Disney World parks. But that just it. What could be a dark yet beautiful movie about child abuse and upbringing became an empty portrait of an irresponsible mother and her obnoxious child. We'll never care about them because the movie didn't care to give us some of their background. It's hard to make a beautiful movie when you don't properly develop your characters.

The movie didn't do justice to the amazing book. Very poor character development, cast is very weak - Haley Bennett's performance as Megan is laughable - also they made critical changes to the original story from the book which in my opinion ruined the entire screen script. It looks more like one of those pathetic dramatic reconstruction movies from Investigation Discovery than a real movie.

Very touching, realistic and shocking movie. Breathtaking ending. Kim Basinger does an amazing job as a woman who suffers and tries to find herself.

Disturbing, spooky but amazingly interesting, all at the same time. A movie that will make you think a lot for a good few days. The cast does a very good job as well. Great plot twist!

At the beginning it looks like a cheap copy of "Divergent". The purpose of the movie is good, but its development... not so well. Maybe because the main character is a teenager with concerns like "finding his first love" the movie has a childish and superficial touch. Perhaps if it were longer and with deeper characters, it would have reached its philosophical meaning. However, it is only a narrative of a boy trying to find himself, a cliché. Great performance by Jeff Bridges.

Not a bad movie if you analyze its purposes. However, its narrative is cold and Lucy, although Johansson plays it very well, is not a charismatic character, dramatically speaking. The ending is predictable and the subject of the movie has been approached many times before. It begins well, but it ends in a very disappointing way. To sum it all up, it's a movie that tells how a girl had an overdose from blue crystals and started reading minds, controlling tv and telephones and going back in time. Seriously, that's all.

Beautiful, sublime movie that tells a story that only those who BELIEVE will understand. It made cry like no other movie did. A remarkable masterpiece.

I honestly think the only reason James Franco and Seth Rogen agreed to be part of this messy movie was the financial one. No actor who wants to build a serious career (and even if this career is acting in comedies) would agree to be part of such a thing.

Not only the movie is not funny, but it is filled with annoying jokes (including numerous and unnecessary references to LOTR and ridiculous scatological jokes). James Franco's performance looks like a parody of himself, artificially trying to be funny.

Kim Jong Un is portrayed as a retarded fan of Katy Perry and margaritas. Seth Rogen does nothing but play himself - as he always does - and women in this movie are just portrayed as mere sexual objects.

Honestly, "Hungover" parts 1,2 and 3 are as classy as a violin concert compared to this movie that should have never been released. If it weren't for the Sony hack and its following drama, it would have never been watched as well.

The only thing relatively good about this movie is Dave Franco's debut in a relatively famous comedy and to see that Zac Efron can make people laugh, too. Seth Rogen is still playing Pineapple Express's Dale in every single movie. To sum it all up, the movie looks like Superbad, but the characters here use more weed - and mushrooms.