“I Play Rocky” turns an underdog triumph into a safe bet

I Play Rocky

Starring Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Toby Kebbell, P.J. Byrne, Jay Duplass, Matt Dillon, Stephan James, Tracy Letts, Kiki Seto, Erik Palladino and Robert Morgan. Written by Peter Gamble. Directed by Peter Farrelly. Now playing in theatres everywhere. 127 minutes. PG

⭐️⭐️ 1/2 (out of 4)

Peter Howell

Movie Critic

Peter Farrelly’s drama about Sylvester Stallone’s struggle to make “Rocky” delivers the expected “you gotta believe” uplift, but its underdog spirit feels calculated.

Anthony Ippolito conjures a convincing young Stallone in looks, voice and personality, as the struggling actor and screenwriter turns down six-figure offers for his script rather than surrender the lead role he wrote for himself. Proving doubters wrong is what “Rocky” was all about, and also Stallone’s own story.

Scarborough’s own Stephan James makes an engaging Carl Weathers, aka boxing rival Apollo Creed, although the film’s more about the money than the mano-a-mano. Do we really need a dollar-by-dollar account of the dealmaking, especially when the scenes of actual boxing are relatively few?

Jay Duplass is also good as irascible “Rocky” director John Avildsen and Tracy Letts amuses as a composite studio suit who sees only dollar signs, not destiny.

"Rocky,” made on a budget of about $1 million, was a genuine phenomenon back in the day. It won best picture at the Oscars and became the highest-grossing film of 1976.

“I Play Rocky,” on the other hand, is considerably more calculating. Farrelly, who went from TIFF to Oscar glory with “Green Book,” aims for a similar crowd-pleaser with this film, a runner-up for the People’s Choice Award at TIFF’s 2026 edition.

Ippolito delivers a solid Rocky Balboa and even better Sylvester Stallone. The film around him is an underdog story that plays like a safe bet, but the popcorn crowd isn’t likely to complain.

Bonus: seeing early use of Steadicam tech in Rocky’s training run up Philadelphia’s Museum of Art steps.