Peter Farrelly’s biographical drama I Play Rocky, which chronicles Sylvester Stallone’s real-life struggle to create the iconic 1976 film, debuts with a limited theatrical release on Nov. 6 and expands nationwide on Nov. 20. Written by Peter Gamble and directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Green Book, the movie stars Stallone as himself in a feel-good underdog story about perseverance and triumph against overwhelming odds. The film arrives as a meta portrait of Hollywood ambition, casting Stallone in the very role that made him a global icon while dramatizing the studio politics, creative friction, and sheer stubbornness that brought Rocky to the screen.
At its core, I Play Rocky is a story about a pivotal moment in Stallone’s career. After being passed over for multiple roles and dismissed as an actor, the struggling performer receives a key piece of advice and decides to make his own luck. He writes a script to showcase his talents and clashes with a stubborn film executive just so he can star in the project he created. From there, the drama unfolds as a somewhat bloated tale of Hollywood suits trying to cajole Stallone into selling his script, then punishing him when he refuses. Everyone around him insists he’s making a mistake and that he can’t succeed — which, critics note, only makes his eventual triumph all the sweeter.
That narrative premise is precisely what makes the film so self-aware. The reviewer who penned the assessment observed that the movie “contains all of the classic beats of perseverance: the simplicity of fighting the good fight, the complexity of sacrifice, and the humorous ignorance of going all in when the chips are stacked against you.” Even the cinematic language pays homage to Stallone’s early hits, though some of those homages land as slightly unearned montages and comedic asides that undercut key developments in the journey.
A Meta Portrait of Perseverance
Gamble’s script is fluid and funny at times, capturing the tension between Stallone’s stubbornness as an actor and his unwavering commitment to his own creative vision. The film’s greatest strength, according to the review, lies not in the lead performance alone but in the sheer volume of character actors who punctuate the drama, the ridiculousness, and the comedy of bringing the story to life. Jay Duplass immediately makes an impact as director John G. Avildsen, injecting an intensity into the Hollywood machine that works against Stallone. He’s never cold or cruel — just a realist, and that’s the kind of ally Stallone needs. P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell, as legendary producing duo Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, respectively, add further weight to the studio drama.
An Ensemble Carries the Hollywood Drama
Though the narrative is mostly comprised of antics from powerful men vying for the movie they want to make, AnnaSophia Robb seizes the spotlight as Sasha Czack, Stallone’s earliest ally and first wife who pushes the burgeoning actor toward the spotlight. Robb’s stern and supportive portrayal provides a needed, entertaining challenge to Ippolito’s unbridled optimism. After starting out as a child actor, Robb is finally landing the meaty roles she’s been capable of for years, and as I Play Rocky inevitably begins to garner awards buzz, it would behoove everyone to remember that Robb delivers its most powerful performance.
All that said, Anthony Ippolito deserves his flowers for every facet of Stallone’s portrayal. After starring as Al Pacino in The Offer — which similarly chronicles the cinematic adaptation of The Godfather — Ippolito has clearly honed his craft in recreating larger-than-life Hollywood personalities in their formative years. His performance evokes Stallone’s earliest films in the most meta sense, perfectly encapsulating that dogged perseverance, almost to comedic levels.
“I Play Rocky is the type of movie your dad will love and watch on repeat when reruns air on basic cable. It’s effective, it leaves an impact, and it’s consistently entertaining.”
Review of I Play Rocky
Tracy Letts rounds out the cast as the villainous (and fictional) MGM boss Sandy Maddox, delivering great lines with vitriol and annoyance usually reserved for the biggest of bastards. Maddox wants to pay Stallone a fortune to sell his script so MGM can make Rocky without him, but the actor refuses — despite struggling to make ends meet. That refusal emphasizes the hero’s biggest struggle: that Sly Stallone is too weird-looking and too terrible an actor to carry a movie.
Looking Ahead
There is a lot about I Play Rocky that is simply “fine,” but there’s also a lot to love. The ending, in particular, seems engineered in Hollywood’s finest laboratory to make audiences pump their fists in righteous satisfaction. It will assuredly leave many viewers content and convinced they didn’t simply waste their time watching a movie about Rocky, because it’s so much more than that. This is a film that deftly captures the painstaking journey to create something with meaning, even when you’re struggling to figure out what that meaning is in the moment.
The verdict from the review is that I Play Rocky is the type of movie your dad will love and watch on repeat when reruns air on basic cable. It’s effective, it leaves an impact, and it’s consistently entertaining. That said, it’s also the safest Oscar movie since Farrelly’s Green Book — the kind of film that will satisfy you every second you’re sitting in the theater, but on the drive home, you might forget you ever even saw it. You might think it’s simple, you might think it’s the greatest film ever made. But you’re definitely going to watch it when it pops up on your recommended movies list five years from now, when you’re desperately looking for something entertaining to watch. And you might watch it again, five years later, when it comes on syndication. Then again, and again. Before you know it, you’re telling your grandkids, “You know what I just rewatched? I Play Rocky. Now that’s a good film,” before drinking your nightly glass of whole milk and falling asleep under your heated blanket.
I Play Rocky debuts with a limited theatrical run on Nov. 6 and goes nationwide on Nov. 20.
1 comment