Okay, this is a film about the making of a film considered an iconic underdog story. This is the true account of an unknown actor named Sylvester Stallone who believed he wasn’t just meant to write the script for “Rocky” but that he should play the lead part of Rocky Balboa. Against impossible odds and big studio bullies, we watch Sylvester and his producers, who believed in him, fight and scratch to make the mega hit Rocky.
I Play Rocky somehow captured the magic in a bottle that the original Rocky had. That film was made 50 years ago, and so many films have been made in that canon, but my favorite is the first one.
The original Rocky won three Academy Awards the year it came out. That’s out of 10 nominations, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. It also took home Best Picture and Best Director, the biggest awards of the evening. That little micro-budget movie became a phenomenon.
Flash forward to 2026, and this new film I Play Rocky takes us behind the scenes of how the film actually made it to the big screen. Everybody knew the mythology of Stallone as a broke actor who came to LA after struggling to make it in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. He was married with a kid on the way and parking cars when he wrote the script that would make him famous. He got his original script into the hands of producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, who wanted John G. Avildsen to direct it. The only problem was that the studio putting up the money wanted a known actor.
Anybody in Stallone’s situation would have taken the money they were offering for just the script and walked away, but luckily for us, that didn’t happen. The rest of the film actually shows the filming of the original Rocky, with all the mishaps and lucky breaks of using this new invention called the Steadicam to film the action up close and personal.
On the surface, this film is very simple—the making of a famous film. Lucky for us, this story behind the biggest underdog story ever filmed is even more inspiring than the movie and has the audience cheering for Sylvester to win not in the ring but against the big studio heads that want him to fail.
In the hands of Director Peter Farrelly, I Play Rocky soars, and casting Anthony Ippolito as Stallone is sheer perfection. At times, you’re watching the film and aren’t sure whether you’re watching Anthony or Stallone. Anthony was asked about how he felt taking on this part. “There’s so much emphasis on truth in I PLAY ROCKY — we’re not satirizing the situation that went into making Rocky,” adds Ippolito. “The concept of ‘making a movie about a movie’ is one thing, but we love how much the character of Rocky has meant to people. From an independent filmmaking and creative standpoint, hopefully this inspires a lot of people, because at its core that’s what allowed the original Rocky to come about.”
I give I Play Rocky 5 stars. It’s a real treat for anybody who grew up a Rocky fan. You’ll want to see this one on the big screen and probably more than once. It may even make you go back and rewatch the first film it’s based on. Either way, it is a great way to kick off the holiday film season.
Directed by: Peter Farrelly
Written by: Peter Gamble
Rated: PG-13
Selig Rating: 5 Stars
Running Time: 2 hr 8 min
Docudrama, Showbiz Drama, Biography
Release: Only in Theaters Nov 6th
Starring: Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Matt Dillon
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.