'I Play Rocky' TIFF review: Anthony Ippolito goes the distance in rousing origin story
Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios/TIFF
Not exactly a biopic so much as an exploration of how one of Hollywood’s most valuable pieces of intellectual property came into existence, “I Play Rocky” recounts the underdog story of Sylvester Stallone putting everything on the line to make the most consequential movie of his career. It is an appropriate angle for a film whose very existence depends upon audiences’ enduring affection for “Rocky,” but director Peter Farrelly understands that the material only works if it can summon some of the scrappy sincerity that made the 1976 boxing classic so irresistible in the first place.
Thankfully, he has Anthony Ippolito in his corner. Capturing Stallone’s gruff voice, mumbled delivery and unmistakable physical cadence, Ippolito delivers the kind of uncanny transformation that occasionally makes you forget you are watching an actor playing Stallone rather than Stallone himself. It is more than an accomplished impersonation, though. Ippolito locates the insecurity, stubbornness and desperate ambition underneath those familiar mannerisms, turning Stallone into someone worth rooting for even when the movie is sanding down the rougher edges of his story.
Farrelly has admittedly been handed an easy layup. Stallone’s struggle to get “Rocky” made already contains the dramatic architecture of a great underdog movie, complete with rejection, financial hardship, studio opposition and one enormously satisfying triumph. “I Play Rocky” fits comfortably alongside other Hollywood origin stories such as Paramount’s “The Offer,” which dramatized the tumultuous production of “The Godfather.” There is plenty of rousing, rah-rah energy here, much of it derived from the same emotional playbook as “Rocky” itself. Yet casting a relative unknown as Stallone gives the movie an additional layer of authenticity.
Ippolito is being asked to seize his own defining opportunity while playing a man who once fought to do exactly that, and the parallel captures the spirit of the story beautifully.
When we first meet Sylvester Stallone, or “Mike,” as he unsuccessfully attempts to market himself, he is nearly broke and desperately trying to find a way into the film business. He has landed a few minor parts, including a role as a thug in “Death Race 2000,” but meaningful opportunities remain elusive. When his circumstances become particularly dire, he even resorts to appearing in an adult film to keep himself afloat.
His fortunes begin to change when he meets Sasha Czack, played with warmth and conviction by AnnaSophia Robb. Sasha is a budding photographer who will eventually become Stallone’s first wife, but the screenplay gives her more to do than stand on the sidelines and worry about the man she loves. She becomes integral to his artistic development, encouraging him to embrace his birth name and write something that could only have come from him. Robb and Ippolito create an affectionate, lived-in partnership that allows Sasha’s belief in Stallone to feel foundational rather than incidental to his success.
We know where that encouragement leads. Stallone writes “Rocky” as a last-ditch attempt to make his mark, and producers Irwin Winkler, played by a delightfully energized P.J. Byrne, and Robert Chartoff, played by Toby Kebbell, recognize the potential in his screenplay. Their financier, Sandy Maddox, is considerably less enthusiastic about Stallone’s insistence that he play the title character. Tracy Letts brings an amusingly exhausted volatility to the role, repeatedly lamenting the fact that he let “The Godfather” slip away to Paramount and refusing to stake another production on an unknown actor with an unusual voice and virtually no box-office value.
Like the character he has written, Stallone digs in his heels. He repeatedly turns down life-changing sums of money for the screenplay because accepting them would mean surrendering the role. Once the producers reluctantly agree, the victory merely creates another set of obstacles. The film must be made on a shoestring budget, the production has to find ways around union restrictions, and falling behind schedule could bring the entire operation crashing down. What emerges is a ragtag collection of artists and technicians attempting to create something lasting with limited time, money and institutional support.
“I Play Rocky” is therefore as interested in the mechanics of making the movie as it is in Stallone’s personal ascent. It offers playful explanations for details that have since become part of Hollywood history, from the origin of Butkus’ name to the uncertainty surrounding Bill Conti’s theme, which would become one of the most recognizable pieces of music in cinematic history. These moments are amusing and often stirring, although Farrelly occasionally treats every familiar detail like a sacred artifact being unveiled for the first time. The movie rarely encounters a piece of “Rocky” lore it cannot polish into another applause cue.
That eagerness exposes the larger complication at the heart of the project. Here is Amazon MGM Studios, the corporate steward of the “Rocky” library, producing a celebratory dramatization about how one of its most valuable properties came into existence. The film wants to celebrate Stallone’s resistance to a risk-averse studio system while simultaneously reaffirming the cultural value of a franchise that remains profitable half a century later. That contradiction gives some of the nostalgia a calculated quality, particularly when the movie becomes less interested in examining the compromises of Hollywood than in reminding audiences how much they already love “Rocky.”
Farrelly also adheres so closely to the underdog formula that the movie seldom complicates its flattering portrait of Stallone. His obstinance is almost always vindicated, his sacrifices are framed as proof of his integrity, and the more difficult aspects of his personality are softened into endearing signs of determination. Stallone had no involvement in the production, but it is difficult to imagine him objecting too strongly to a movie that presents his life as an extension of the mythology he created.
Still, resistance is difficult when Ippolito is this good. Like Austin Butler in “Elvis,” he disappears into a famous figure without allowing the performance to become an empty collection of gestures. The physical resemblance can border on the uncanny, but it is Ippolito’s command of Stallone’s emotional vulnerability that makes the transformation meaningful. His Stallone is painfully aware of how ridiculous his ambitions sound to everyone else, which makes his refusal to abandon them feel brave rather than merely arrogant.
At 127 minutes, “I Play Rocky” moves with the confidence and momentum of a natural crowd-pleaser. At its Toronto International Film Festival premiere and subsequent screenings, audiences were on their feet and roaring at the screen. It is easy to understand why. Farrelly knows precisely when to tighten the screws, when to deploy a familiar piece of imagery and when to let Ippolito deliver the emotional knockout. The manipulation is hardly invisible, but it is effective because the movie believes so completely in the power of its own story.
“I Play Rocky” is not quite a traditional rags-to-riches tale, nor is it merely a feature-length collection of behind-the-scenes trivia. At its best, it becomes an endearing character study about an artist betting on himself when no one else can understand what he sees. As Jay Duplass’ John G. Avildsen explains in the film, “Rocky” is not a boxing movie. It is a movie about boxing. Likewise, “I Play Rocky” is not simply about the production of a Hollywood classic. It is about the reckless conviction required to make something personal inside an industry that would prefer the safer bet.
The movie’s self-congratulatory nostalgia keeps it from landing every punch, but its sincerity carries it through the final round. More importantly, Ippolito delivers the star-making performance the material demands, pushing an already irresistible Hollywood legend beyond corporate mythology and toward something genuinely human. For all its carefully engineered applause lines, “I Play Rocky” saves its biggest triumph for Ippolito, whose star-making performance proves that sometimes the long shot really does go the distance.
Grade: B+
I PLAY ROCKY premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Amazon MGM Studios will release the film in theaters Friday, November 20.
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