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Let’s get this out of the way: I Play Rocky is probably going to get some awards buzz. Peter Farrelly’s trademark humor, much more subdued from his early days of teaming with brother Bobby for comedies like Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary, shines brightly in a feel-good, underdog story about perseverance and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. That probably sounds familiar if you’ve seen Rocky. It has strong performances and a lot of heart, a script that moves quickly despite a few stumbles, and a message that’s punctuated explicitly by the film’s final scene.
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, well, Farrelly’s Green Book. It’s 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.
Peter Gamble’s script is fluid, and funny at times, even if it lingers too long in certain periods of Sylvester Stallone’s journey toward making Rocky. He captures a pivotal moment in Sly’s budding career, from his stubbornness as an actor to his perseverance in creating his particular vision. After losing out on multiple roles and being ignored as an actor, Stallone receives a key piece of advice and decides to make his own luck in Hollywood. So he writes an script to showcase his talents and butts heads with a stubborn film exec just so he can star in the film he wrote. From this point, the film becomes a somewhat bloated story about Hollywood suits attempting to cajole Stallone into selling his script, then punishing him when he refuses. Everyone is telling him he’s making a mistake and that he can’t succeed — which just makes Stallone’s eventual triumph, that much sweeter. Unfortunately, we’ve seen that same story before, in the very movie I Play Rocky sets out to chronicle.
While Anthony Ippolito deserves his flowers for every facet of Sly Stallone’s portrayal, his performance is not what stands out in I Play Rocky. The sheer amount of character actors punctuating the drama, the ridiculousness, and the comedy of bringing the story to life is this film’s greatest strength. Jay Duplass immediately makes an impact as director John G. Avildsen, who adds an intensity to the Hollywood machine that is working against Stallone in his performance. He’s never cold or cruel — he’s 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, also add to the Hollywood drama.
Though the narrative is mostly comprised of antics from powerful men, all vying for the movie they want to make, it’s AnnaSophia Robb (Rebel Ridge, Bridge to Terabithia) who seizes the spotlight as Sasha Czack, Stallone’s earliest ally and first wife who pushes the burgeoning actor to seize 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 getting 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, Ippolito should not be brushed to the side. He doesn’t just look like a young Stallone, he’s also really good in the role. After starring as Al Pacino in The Offer, which similarly chronicles the cinematic adaptation of The Godfather, Ippolito has definitely honed in on recreating larger-than-life Hollywood personalities in their formative years. His performance in I Play Rocky evokes Stallone’s earliest films in the most meta sense. Sly was constantly up against all odds, both in his most famous plots and in his professional life. Ippolito perfectly encapsulates that dogged perseverance, almost to comedic levels. TK.
In a film of great performances, I Play Rocky takes a cartoonish turn with veteran character actor Tracy Letts as the villainous (and fictional) MGM boss Sandy Maddox. He delivers some great lines with vitriol and annoyance usually reserved for the biggest of bastards, almost to the point where it reaches over the top. This emphasizes the hero’s biggest struggle — that Sly Stallone is too weird looking and too terrible of an actor to carry a movie. Maddox wants to pay Stallone a ton of money to sell his script so MGM can make Rocky without him, but the actor refuses, despite the fact that he’s struggling to make ends meet.
At this point, I Play Rocky begins to mimic the greatest hits of Stallone overcoming the odds, transforming into a pastiche where it could have been a great story on its own terms. I Play Rocky 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 they are slightly unearned. This consists of montages, humorous asides that undercut key developments in the journey, and heavy emphases on the moments where Stallone (and Rocky) must be serious and stand up for himself.
There is a lot about I Play Rocky that is just “fine,” but there’s also a lot to love. The ending, in particular, seems like it was engineered in Hollywood’s finest laboratory to make audiences pump their fists in righteous satisfaction. It will assuredly leave many viewers content and that they didn’t simply waste their time watching a movie about Rocky, because it’s so much more than that. This is a movie 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.
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.
