I Play Rocky First Reviews: An Inspirational Crowd-Pleaser Led by a Magnetic Anthony Ippolito
Critics at TIFF say Peter Farrelly's biopic is almost as uplifting as its inspiration, with fantastic performances and a sentimental heart, even if the script isn't particularly inventive.
The biopic I Play Rocky just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to an enthusiastic response, and the first reviews are now online. Directed by Best Picture-winning filmmaker Peter Farrelly (Green Book), the movie tells the story behind the making of the Best Picture-winning Rocky, with breakout sensation Anthony Ippolito portraying Sylvester Stallone. Those who love it seem to really, really love it (especially if they weren’t expecting to at all), while others find the script too passive and shallow to be a total knockout.
80%
0%
Here’s what critics are saying about I Play Rocky:
Does it meet expectations?
I Play Rocky is an absolute winner.
– Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
It’s one of my favorite films of the year… I truly never wanted this film to end.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
It’s easily one of the year’s best movies to date.
– George Bate, Screen Rant
I Play Rocky looks like it was a movie made just for me… This turned out to be accurate.
– Mike Ryan, The Hard Pass
I’m just as surprised as you that I loved I Play Rocky.
– Lauren Bradshaw, Fangirl Freakout
I went into this with low expectations, but I Play Rocky blew the roof off; it’s so good.
– Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics
I must admit that I was wary… I shouldn’t have worried, though, as I Play Rocky was a knockout.
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network
Farrelly’s stylistic, crowd-pleasing homage only works because the bones of what he is reassembling are naturally strong. That reality is a credit to Stallone’s hard work all those decades ago.
– Robert Daniels, Screen International
Disappointment is felt right from the opening moments.
– Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
Is it as crowd-pleasing as Rocky?
As an uplifting story, it may actually rival the original Rocky.
– George Bate, Screen Rant
I Play Rocky… had the audience on its feet on multiple occasions. A true crowd favorite.
– Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics
My goodness, I Play Rocky is the definition of a crowd-pleaser.
– Mike Ryan, The Hard Pass
This flick is so good, so entertaining, and such a crowd-pleaser, it succeeds on its own terms.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
I Play Rocky repurposes most of its emotional uplift from the movie within the movie, but anyone with fond memories of the boxing drama will feel a surge of elation from the moment Bill Conti’s theme music is folded in.
– David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
I Play Rocky never reaches the grandiose moment that propelled the film it chronicles, but it has enough… to be worth your while.
– J. Don Birnam, Next Best Picture
What we get is a film that’s broadly crowd-pleasing… without a cinematic soul it can call its own.
– Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
Does it properly honor the movie it’s about?
In the most resounding of ways, I Play Rocky captures the soulful, crowd-pleasing triumph of the 1976 classic.
– George Bate, Screen Rant
Fans of the Rocky franchise and of Stallone will be unable to find many faults with Farrelly’s film, which is as good a dramatization as one could hope for.
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network
Ultimately, I Play Rocky works because it understands the most important thing about its source material: this isn’t just a story about a boxer. It’s a story about believing you can become something more than what everyone else thinks you are.
– Jonathan Sim, ComingSoon.net
It’s a worthy supplement to the films that inspired it.
– Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
I Play Rocky has nothing to say about who Stallone was or who he became as a result of creating Rocky.
– Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
A walking piece of pastiche, the uninventive crowd-pleaser takes its best cues from Rocky, recreating memorable scenes with little of the movie’s original humanism.
– Robert Daniels, Screen International
What if we’re not die-hardRocky fans?
I Play Rocky is a film for everyone.
– Lauren Bradshaw, Fangirl Freakout
Even folks who may not revere the films… will find much to love about this inspirational tale.
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network
Whatever one may think of Rocky itself, that the project made it as far as it did is a testament to its creator’s grit and sweat.
– J. Don Birnam, Next Best Picture
A person will have to work hard not to like I Play Rocky. People of course will. Maybe they don’t like Stallone movies, or care about a movie like Rocky.
– Mike Ryan, The Hard Pass
How does it compare to Peter Farrelly’s other movies?
This is another Peter Farrelly crowdpleaser, to my mind a much stronger one than the syrupy Green Book (to say nothing of Balls Out).
– Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
It’s easily director Peter Farrelly’s greatest film (which isn’t throwing shade at his classic comedies or Green Book, all of which I dug).
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network
As he showed in his 2018 solo directing debut, Green Book… Farrelly is a populist director who feels no compulsion to challenge his audience. In that case, he offered a soft, conciliatory take on the racial divide, while in I Play Rocky, he doesn’t shy away from sentimental excess and even a slight shlockiness.
– David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Farrelly has had Oscar and audience success before with Green Book, but I Play Rocky blows that movie out of the water.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
Can we add it to the list of great movies about making movies?
It is not an exaggeration to say that I Play Rocky may be the best narrative feature about the making of a specific film ever.
– George Bate, Screen Rant
It is one of the best Hollywood underdog stories of all time.
– Lauren Bradshaw, Fangirl Freakout
At its best, I Play Rocky is a fascinating movie about how films got made in Hollywood in the seventies… Any fan of film will appreciate this.
– J. Don Birnam, Next Best Picture
I Play Rocky has some of the slyness of movies-about-real-moviemaking that include Nouvelle Vague and Baadasssss! and — the Citizen Kane of the genre — Ed Wood.
– Owen Gleiberman, Variety
There is no insight into the absurdity or artistry of filmmaking… You’d do better watching any of the making-of documentaries instead.
– Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
How is the script?
Gamble’s script is broad, big on laughs, and occasionally oversells the biggest emotional beats. What it does best is recreate Stallone’s real-life underdog struggle.
– Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics
The script is mostly solid, though sometimes uneven, a minor issue in a film that has a tremendous cast to bring it all to life.
– Alfred Castaneda, Shade Studios
The, well, rockiest part of this film is its uneven script… Stallone himself was a better screenwriter.
– J. Don Birnam, Next Best Picture
It bolds and underlines every development and reference in such a repetitive fashion that it doesn’t feel like you’re even watching a movie as much as a visual representation of a Wikipedia page.
– Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
Screenwriting so lazy, it may qualify as a mortal sin…. The script by Peter Gamble might as well be a Wikipedia page.
– Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
And the visuals?
There’s nothing visually exceptional happening here; I Play Rocky often has a streaming-movie feel.
– Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
The flat, overlit televisual sheen of the film’s recreation of ’70s Philly feels blandly artificial, shot by Farrelly’s now-regularly disappointing cinematographer Sean Porter.
– Trace Sauveur, AwardsWatch
Does Anthony Ippolito give a star-making performance?
Ippolito is a revelation in a performance that will be remembered for quite some time.
– Alfred Castaneda, Shade Studios
It’s a film that could… do for star Anthony Ippolito’s career what Rocky did for Sylvester Stallone.
– Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics
It’s not every day you see a star-making performance, but Ippolito is one to watch, not only in this year’s Awards conversations but for many years to come.
– Lauren Bradshaw, Fangirl Freakout
You may get sick of hearing that Ippolito gives a star-making performance, but it’s undeniably true.
– Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
Ippolito is going to be a star, sure, but he might also end up an Oscar nominee for this one, he’s that good.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
For his part, Ippolito is an exceptional replica of Stallone in both looks and mannerisms; he’s so close to the man he’s playing that it’s easy to forget it’s not actually him.
– Trace Sauveur, AwardsWatch
He’s on the same level as Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, and Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn.
– George Bate, Screen Rant
Ippolito credibly impersonates the voice of Stallone, but the delivery lacks the iconic actor’s soul.
– Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
Anthony Ippolito tries his best, but he’s lost under Farrelly’s guidance, leaving his performance as Stallone a mere imitation of Sly as Rocky, not as a person.
– Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
Does anyone else stand out?
A highly entertaining performance by Tracy Letts.
– J. Don Birnam, Next Best Picture
Letts was born to play this kind of brutally blunt, ruthless-when-necessary businessman.
– David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Special shoutouts to Kiki Seto as Talia Shire and Stephan James as Carl Weathers.
– Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
Stephan James as Carl Weathers. James, for the brief time he’s on screen, overshadows Ippolito as the charismatic Weathers.
– Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics
Stephan James is shockingly good as Carl Weathers, right down to his impossibly sculpted six-pack and larger-than-life persona.
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network
Stallone’s real-life dog, Butkus. The bullmastiff gets his own origin story, and steals every scene in which he appears.
– Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
Is this something we’ll want to watch again and again, like Rocky?
This is something you’ll be able to watch over and over again.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
I feel confident that the answer is, “I will watch I Play Rocky 40 or so times before I die.”
– Mike Ryan, The Hard Pass
Will it make us want more movies like this?
We need more feel-good movies like this in cinemas: works of art that move us to do great things, despite whatever odds we encounter along the way.
– Alfred Castaneda, Shade Studios
Make more Stallone “I Play” movies. Bring on I Play Cobra. I can’t wait until I Play John Spartan.
– Mike Ryan, The Hard Pass
The film consistently makes you wish you were just watching Rocky instead.
– Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
I Play Rocky opens in theaters on November 6, 2026.
