I Play Rocky

It is difficult to comment on I Play Rocky in any meaningful way without starting with Anthony Ippolito's career-defining turn. From the very first moments of the movie until the credits roll, Ippolito transforms into Sylvester Stallone in every sense of the word. On a number of occasions, he is indistinguishable from Stallone himself, such is the actor’s ability to so seamlessly immerse the audience in his portrayal as Sly.

When a movie works, it works, and much like the movie whose making it’s depicting, I Play Rocky is a genuine crowd-pleaser, even if its best portion is the stuff before the cameras roll on Rocky itself. The film has a ton of wit and charm, anchored by excellent central performances from Anthony Ippolito and AnnaSophia Robb.

I Play Rocky is a resounding success, one that captures that hopeful positivity and ingenuity that made Rocky the iconic movie it is. Rocky's overwhelming success is justification enough for I Play Rocky to be made, but it's the soul and performance in the film that ultimately makes it a movie worth watching.

There may not be a lot of there there to I Play Rocky, but its affection for the chaos of filmmaking and the way it sometimes produces magic is palpable, even when we know where this story is going. Especially when we know where the story is going, because the whole point of this enterprise is that we’re going to get somewhere familiar in the end, and we’re going to enjoy the journey anyway.

For about an hour, it’s an impressively made dramedy that mirrors the story of Rocky Balboa in that of the man who brought him to life: Sylvester Stallone. As Stallone battles homelessness, finds love, and writes his way into a cultural phenomenon, Farrelly and his team land their punches in remarkably crowd-pleasing ways.

A corny pantomime, which reveals nothing, stumbles incessantly, and wholly pales in comparison to its iconic subject matter.

It never uncovers that deeper “emotional why,” reducing the unconventional success story of Stallone to something aggressively conventional and without a greater emotional punch.