In 2018, the co-director behind Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary scored box office and Oscar gold with Green Book, “based on the story of a true friendship.” It’s an earnest, if old-fashioned take of proper morals triumphing over racism and bigotry. While cloying and reliant on a white savior narrative, director Peter Farrelly now understands he can play around with serious dramas and comedy. A few films later, he has another awards contender in the form of I Play Rocky, a movie about the making of a movie and an underdog story about the most famous cinematic underdog of all time, Rocky. But here’s the question – how deserving is a movie that models itself on the resulting film that already exists, even as it recreates an entertaining, albeit largely clean take on the journey of its famous screenwriter/star?
To be clear, I ultimately side with what I Play Rocky has to offer. Given the well-known history of the film, there aren’t exactly drastic stakes at play, and this take on Sylvester Stallone, let alone others involved in the production, leans on the charitable side of things. Still, going by the continued logic that a biopic is still a work of fiction as opposed to documentary, there is a joyousness that speaks to the appeal of this project, enough in the way of detail to show there’s an understanding of how to do more than just recreate Wikipedia for the big screen, and most importantly – a strong lead performance that gets to the essence of both Sylvester Stallone and Rocky Balboa.
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This would be Anthony Ippolito, a young star chosen specifically because of the lack of credits on his resume. The film lets us get to know him through the tough experiences he had before he started making a name for himself. We watch him fail auditions, live with some low-paying jobs, and even reluctantly take a gig doing softcore porn to make ends meet. He does meet Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb), Sly’s eventual first wife, and some of their nicest, subtler scenes feature Sly handing over written pages of his screenplay to a wife eager to type them out, as she believes in his strengths.
So much of this film works because of Ippolito’s way of handling the character. What could only be seen in advertisements as a pretty good impression gains far more layers when taken as a whole. Sure, this is a film that is sanding off some edges regarding Stallone (which applies more to the star post-success, and would make for a fascinating follow-up, were it to be honest). Still, it speaks to the film’s tone, which, again, wants to be an underdog story about the making of an underdog story.
Peter Gamble’s script avoids hokeyness by stacking the film with all the obstacles that came before any cameras started rolling. With only the third act really focusing on the making of Rocky, the film earns a lot of goodwill by functioning as an entertaining character drama about a guy taking a chance on himself. Yes, some scenes feel simplified or overly dramatic to set up payoffs down the line, but this is also a movie trying to play to a wide audience craving a feel-good movie to go along with all the award-season downers. That’s making excuses for a film trying not to be overly complex, but it makes up for it with entertainment value and some fun casting choices.
P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell play Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, the producers of Rocky¸ who get into their own match with Stallone, as they negotiate for the rights to the script, unaware that he’s going to be unmovable on the subject of him being the star. Matt Dillon gets a small but effective part as Frank Stallone Sr., Sly’s tough-as-nails father. Stephan James makes a meal out of his portrayal of Carl Weathers, who adds a fun spark later in the feature. Jay Duplass, similarly, gets some mileage out of playing director John G. Avildsen. With that in mind, Tracy Letts shines brightest as United Artists executive Sandy Maddox (a composite character), leaning into the skepticism around making this movie.
While the story of Rocky may not be known in as much detail by the general public as, say, The Godfather or Jaws to varying degrees (and that’s assuming a lot of today’s generation), the details we get about it basically being made as an independent feature play well for this film. I could use fewer shenanigans-based scenes about tough guys from the unions trying to interfere, regardless of how much truth there is to it. Still, for the most part, while the only real struggles feel like ones perfect for a movie like this, the performances in these scenes and the payoff ultimately work out. The film does lack something of an ending, opting not to even attempt to challenge Rocky’s legendarily wonderful ending and just supply some on-screen text instead, but it’s not as though there’s much of a mystery to get caught up in regarding the final outcome.
Will I Play Rocky go down as a much-needed look at what led to the 1976 Best Picture winner and sports movie classic? I don’t know. However, it manages to convey a level of sentiment that is respectable enough, given the commitment of everyone involved. Yes, I have to look past aspects of the nature of a movie like this to really feel what it wants me to feel, but I guess one could even appreciate the underdog nature of a movie like this managing to work on different levels for different people and how they appreciate movies about movies. Whether or not I Play Rocky is gonna fly like Green Book for all audiences, it does at least let Sly’s Rocky spirit flow through accordingly.
I Play Rocky opens in select theaters on November 6, 2026, and expands wide on November 20.
