I PLAY ROCKY: 3 ½ STARS. “captures the character’s underdog tenacity.”
SYNOPSIS: In “I Play Rocky” Sylvester Stallone won’t take no for an answer. “I’m not giving this up. Not for a million bucks. Not for 10.”
CAST: Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Toby Kebbell, P. J. Byrne, Stephan James, Jay Duplass, Robert Morgan, Tracy Letts, Matt Dillon. Directed by Peter Farrelly.
REVIEW: “I Play Rocky” is not a reinvention of Sylvester Stallone’s original story or the movie “Rocky,” it’s simply a crowd-pleasing reminder of a true underdog phenomenon.
The story begins in 1970s New York City with Mike Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) eking out a living with odd jobs while unsuccessfully auditioning for film roles. At his movie theatre usher gig he meets Sasha Czack (AnnaSophia Robb), who quickly becomes his girlfriend and biggest booster. She also encourages him to be himself and use his real name. “There are a lot of Mikes in the world,” she says. “There’s only one Sylvester. Sylvester Stallone.”
To be closer to the action, the new couple moves to Los Angeles. On a night off from his valet job, Stallone watches a heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and part-time liquor salesman Chuck Wepner. Watching the underdog Wepner take a beating but never giving up inspired Stallone to write his own script. “Write a script.” Says Sasha, “and give yourself the best part.”
Working day and night he bangs out the script for what would become “Rocky” in just three and a half days. When producers Irwin Winkler (P. J. Byrne) and Robert Chartoff (Toby Kebbell) got hold of it they thought it would be a perfect film for Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson. But despite a Brinks Truck of studio money backed up to Stallone’s apartment, he refused to sell the script unless he was cast in the lead. “I won’t sell it for $1 million,” he says. “Not $10 million. I play Rocky”
His persistence pays off, and the rest is Hollywood history.
An inspirational film about an inspirational movie, “I Play Rocky” is an audience friendly (i.e. formulaic) underdog tale that captures the spirit of the 1976 original film, even when it leans into sentimentality and exposition.
As Stallone, Anthony Ippolito does great work, handing in a performance that doesn’t feel like an imitation. Stallone is a pop culture staple, so we expect the marble-mouthed voice and muscles bursting out of his white tank top, and Ippolito nails that. More importantly, however, he captures the character’s ambition and underdog tenacity.
Ippolito is supported by a good ensemble, particularly Tracey Letts as an increasing frustrated studio executive.
“I Play Rocky’s” underdog story is so potent, that even though we know how it ends it still packs an emotional (but, it must be said, not intellectual) punch.
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