By Dan Skip Allen

Before I write my review of “I Play Rocky” I want to say I have a nostalgia factor that may cloud my judgment a bit regarding “Rocky” and Sylvester Stallone. I’ve probably seen “Rocky” give or take around fifty times in my lifetime. That’s ironic because 2026 is the 50th Anniversary of “Rocky.” I myself am a bit of an underdog story, so it goes to figure I would relate to this underdog character quite a bit. Not only was Stallone an underdog, but the story of how this film got made is the biggest underdog story in the history of Hollywood. That’s the crazy thing about all of this. So when you think about all of this, you know I was going to be a sucker for “I Play Rocky”. I have too much baggage regarding this story and character. Peter Farrelly had me at hello to steal a line from “Jerry Maguire”.

All that is said and good, but if the movie isn’t good, it’ll be hard for me to give it a bad review. Never-ending all of that because this film is amazing with capital A. Farrelly was able to put Anthony Ippoleto in the shoes of Stallone in those early years of his career. The years when he was struggling to keep a job because he was auditioning for roles in movies. Roles like thug #2 in the “Lord’s of Flatbush”. He ended up taking tickets at a movie theater in New York where he’s from, and that’s where he would meet his first wife, Sasha, portrayed by AnnaSophia Robb. She was a good influence on him in those early years. She convinced her to move to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career. Little did he know he would become a struggling screenwriter first, though, before hitting it big. 

I feel like we all have dreams, and some of us are able to capture our dreams, and others aren’t. Stallone had to be inspired by the story of washed up bum of a fighter from Philadelphia Chuck Webner to get the idea of a lifetime. It’s a well-known story, but for a lot of people, maybe they didn’t know about this story. So this film will give them a whole new perspective on the story of how “Rocky” got made and how it turned a struggling actor/screenwriter into one of the biggest stars in the world. I get emotional when I talk about this story because it’s very relatable to me. I’m sure I’m not the only one who will get some tears in their eyes while watching this true inspirational story. I literally had chills at certain moments because I knew what was going to happen, but I didn’t care because it was still very emotional for me to watch. 

Farrelly was able to do amazing things with this film. First and foremost, he was able to recreate some of the most iconic scenes in movie history in this movie. How they got those scenes I won’t say because that would be spoiling the film. I won’t do that, but the running sequence on the stairs was incredible. What went into that was pretty wild. Other scenes involving Stallone and Mickey were very cathartic. As actors, you have to find the character by going deep inside yourself. That’s what Stallone did in that scene. Some of the boxing stuff was very interesting to me because I thought this came easy to Stallone and Carl Weathers, but it didn’t. A key scene in this movie and in “Rocky” was the ice rink scene, and that wasn’t almost in the film. That’s what I’m talking about here. The behind the scenes of making such a great movie was fascinating. 

Anthony Ippoleto is an actor without a lot of credits to hiscname. In some sense, it is similar to Stallone early on in his career. Ippoleto played Al Pacino, ironically enough, in “The Offer” the Paramount + mini-series about the making of “The Godfather”. That film I’d referenced in this one a few times, but the biggest one is that Stallone auditioned for it and didn’t get a role because he was too Italian. Wild, right? Ippoleto becomes Stallone in this film. Down to the voice and lazy eyes and all. I literally thought I was watching Stallone in this film as himself. That’s how realistic he was at playing this incredible Hollywood icon. I think Ippoleto will get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role in this film. He’s too good and deserves all the accolades he can get for this amazing performance. 

Besides Ippoleto, there is an amazing ensemble cast in this movie. I’ve liked Robb in some things she was in, like “Bridge to Tarbithia” but she has blossomed into a terrific actress. She holds her own opposite Ippoleto here. She’s memorable in a throwaway role. That’s hard to do, but she does it. PJ Bryne and Toby Kebbell play Irvin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, the producers of “Rocky”. They have extensive negotiations with Stallone for the rights to his script. We all know what happened in the end, but not many know everything that went into them trying to get the script and eventually trying to make the movie. Nothing was easy for these guys. The two actors, on the other hand, who played the characters, made it look easy. They were funny and downright brutal in their honesty towards Ippoleto ‘s Stallone throughout this movie. In the end, they believed in him. The man who almost steals the film away from Ippoleto is Tracy Letts as Sandy Maddox. He has one hilarious tirade after anything in this film. I laughed constantly at all of the vulgar comments he made towards Ippoleto’s Stallone. He did it all while eating ribeye steaks. This was a tremendous job by this cast in this film.

I like to talk about the technical aspects of the movies I write about because I believe they are important in the overall context of if a movie is good or not. When it comes to period piece films, I tend to be very critical regarding the look of the movies. Things like the production design, costumes, and hair and makeup are important in films. They were all very important in this movie.Throw in all of the movie making aspects as well and Farrelly and company had a lot to do to make this film look and feel like the 70s when it was originally made. I felt like I went back in time when this movie was being made. That’s how authentic it was to the time and place it took place in. I love it when a film gets it right like this one did.

There is one sequence in the film that started out early on and continues later on that involves a cinema in New York where Ippoleto ‘s Stallone and Robb’s Sasha worked at. There is a call back to a later scene in the movie to when the premiere is happening at the exact same theater and the Manager who hired them was there and he had to do a doubletake because he didn’t realize what he was seeing. That’s the kind of attention to detail this film has. There is a lot of material about Stallone’s life from a documentary on Netflix to a book, The Steps, about his life but when you’re making a film you have to connect the dots or viewers and critics like me will call you out on it. Farrelly paid attention to all the little things that made this story great. That’s why this movie is so great to me.

It would have been easy for me to give “I Play Rocky” a great five-star review, but I’m giving it that because it deserves that. For all of the great work, Farrelly did bringing this story back to life. The behind the scenes making of anything can’t be easy, but he made it look easy. The real story wasn’t easy for Stallone, but that’s what makes it a great story. Ippoleto became Stallone in every way possible. From the accent to the droopy eyes and all of the movements. I only saw Stallone in this film, not him. That’s what giving yourself up to a role means. Ippoleto deserves an Oscar nomination for all his hard work here. Without his performance, this movie wouldn’t work at all. The rest of the cast were good, but Letts was exceptional. He’s one of the best character actors working today for a reason. The technical aspects, including but not limited to the production design, were amazing.  Farrelly was able to recreate such iconic moments and scenes in this film because he had people who cared about every little detail. With all that being said, I am giving this film my highest rating because I deserved it, and I loved every minute of it. Oscars aren’t too far off for this incredible movie. 

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 stars