Director: Peter Farrelly
Starring: Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Toby Kebbell, P. J. Byrne, Stephan James, Jay Duplass, Robert Morgan, Tracy Letts, and Matt Dillon
Movie Length: 2 hours 8 minutes
What it’s about: A biographical film about how the 1976 movie Rocky came to be from the early stages to the theatrical release.
What Dan thought: I really didn’t know what to expect from the movie going into it. After seeing it I was thoroughly impressed how a bio film about how Rocky came to be, good be so good. Anthony Ippolito as Stallone made you forget you were watching an actor play Stallone and not Stallone as himself. The rest of the supporting cast including AnnaSophia Robb as Stallone’s wife, Jay Duplass as Rocky’s director John G. Avildsen, P. J. Byrne as Irwin Winkler and Toby Kebbell as Robert Chartoff (the co-producers of Rocky) all were excellent in their roles. Even though he had very limited screen time Stephan James as Carl Weathers was terrific.
The movie begins with Stallone’s career before Rocky and showcases how the movie was made including why the used Philadelphia as the location for filming. Peter Farrelly while being primarily known as part of a directing team with his brother Bobby for a lot of comedic movies, did a great job in a movie that was primarily a drama but still had some great comedic lines and scenes.
The score from veteran composer Dave Palmer helped keep the movie going, and of course they used the iconic Rocky theme.
Dan’s rating: 8/10. If you’re a fan of Rocky, this movie is a must see.
I Play Rocky is set for a theatrical release on November 6th (limited) with a full release coming on November 20th.
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