This feel-good biographical drama reminds us just what an unlikely true-life underdog story the production of Rocky actually was. Anthony Ippolito makes an entirely convincing young Sylvester Stallone, and Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly keeps the tone light and playful throughout.

Premise: In the early 1970s, aspiring actor Sylvester Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) was struggling for money, food and rent. His life begins to turn around when he starts dating Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb), but he still can’t get auditions for any real acting jobs. Sasha then suggests that he tries writing scripts for the kind of movies he’d want to star in … and after seeing a Muhammad Ali title boxing match on TV, he’s inspired to write a script called ‘Rocky’…

Review:

Although I was vaguely aware of the story behind the development and production of the 1976 movie Rocky, seeing it brought to life on the big screen in I Play Rocky really emphasised just what an incredible true-life story it actually was. I’m not in a position to comment on how authentic this depiction is, and although I suspect there is a little embellishment and creative licence here and there (the quote “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend” comes to mind), from what I’ve heard it seems that the film is a fairly accurate representation of the key events leading up to, and during, the filming of Rocky.

I won’t go into too many “spoilers” (just in case you don’t know that much about the production of Rocky), but I will say that although the film contains plenty of “in-jokes” for those viewers who know what happened to Rocky in the end, it also works just as well for audiences unfamiliar with the classic movie. Equally, I’ve never considered myself to be a particular fan of Rocky (I certainly enjoyed it, but I don’t love it, and it’s a film I only revisit sporadically), but that in no way hampered my enjoyment of I Play Rocky, which I thought was fantastic.

“…Anthony Ippolito gives an uncanny performance as the young Sylvester Stallone…”

Even just discussing the real-life events in very general terms, it quickly becomes clear just how much of an unlikely underdog story this really is – against all odds, an unknown actor manages to write a script that garners attention from Hollywood studio executives, but then he refuses to sell the script unless the studio agrees to let him play the title character. Even those viewers unfamiliar with the 1976 Rocky film itself will have heard of the character and franchise of “Rocky” from its place in popular culture – even this year’s Project Hail Mary made references to Sylvester Stallone’s creation a central part of its storyline.

The cast of I Play Rocky are incredible, and it all flows from Anthony Ippolito’s uncanny performance as the young Sylvester Stallone. He’s not simply doing a lazy impression of Stallone, he’s really inhabiting the “character”, and often you forget that you’re not actually watching footage of a young Stallone from 1976. Toby Kebbell and P.J. Byrne are also both excellent, but they have the slightly easier job of playing the producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, who aren’t nearly as familiar to audiences as Slyvester Stallone. The same is true for AnnaSophia Robb’s performance as Sasha, Sylvester’s wife, and Jay Duplass as director John Avildsen, who don’t have to emulate their real-life counterparts as convincingly as Anthony Ippolito has to. Character actor Tracy Letts is clearly having fun as a cynical studio exec, and Matt Dillon brings to life Sylvester’s complicated relationship with his dismissive father, Frank Stallone Sr, while Stephan James, Kiki Seto and Robert Morgan really capture the essence of Stallone’s Rocky co-stars Carl Weathers, Talia Shire and Burgess Meredith.

“…provides laugh-out-loud moments with genuinely stirring & emotional scenes…”

Cynically, you could argue that I Play Rocky doesn’t redefine the biopic genre in the same way as something like Oppenheimer did – but multi-Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly isn’t trying to do that, and instead the film simply focuses on showcasing just how unbelievable these events actually were. The film doesn’t entirely shy away from the darker moments (with Stallone having to sleep homeless on the streets and take jobs in softcore pornography films to make ends meet at that start of the movie), but it keeps the tone relatively light, and there’s a strong vein of humour that runs throughout. I Play Rocky provides audiences with a number of laugh-out-loud moments alongside some genuinely stirring and emotional scenes, and brings plenty of heart to the screen, making it a very satisfying movie experience.

I’m on the record as not being a huge fan of biopics normally, but I think the decision to base this movie around a key moment in time – namely the creation, development and shooting of Rocky – rather than doing a “whole life” biopic of Sylvester Stallone, keeps the structure tight and the narrative focused. This film has a little bit of everything – part rags-to-riches fairytale, part against-the-odds underdog story, part satire of the movie-making business, and part reminder that sometimes, the truth can be more far-fetched than fiction.