I Play Rocky, Peter Farrelly's dramatised account of Sylvester Stallone's journey to bring Rocky Balboa to the screen, has a charm and energy fitting for its subject. The film, written by Peter Gamble, stars Anthony Ippolito as a young Stallone, with AnnaSophia Robb as his first wife Sasha, and a supporting cast including Toby Kebbell, PJ Byrne, Jay Duplass, Matt Dillon, Stephan James and Tracy Letts. It is rated 12A, runs for 2 hours and 8 minutes, and arrives in cinemas from November 6, 2026.
A familiar underdog story
The story of Stallone and the creation of Rocky 50 years ago is Hollywood folklore. Fans will know how a young, struggling Sly wrote the screenplay for the movie that would make him a star and held firm in negotiations to ensure he would play the lead role. It is an underdog story that gave birth to the ultimate underdog story on screen, and its arc of struggle and Oscar triumph (Rocky won best picture at the Academy Awards) felt like a movie in itself.
The reviewer notes that, as a self-confessed Rocky fan, they wondered if there would be enough substance to make a satisfying two-hour drama. The resulting movie does run on a bit of borrowed valour, particularly in the back half largely made up of moments when they are shooting Rocky, including details behind some of Rocky's most iconic scenes. These moments are fun and playful, if a little cheesy, and clearly well reconstructed, but they only work because much of the first half is designed to make the film work as a character study.
Ippolito's uncanny performance
The script is well crafted, with many scenes ending on buttons of charming humour or quiet reflection, but much of why it works is down to Anthony Ippolito in the lead role. Much has been made of how strikingly uncanny Ippolito looks compared to a young Stallone, but he does not simply rely on his likeness to the 70s-era Stallone. It is quite wild how similar he looks in several scenes, but he builds a genuine character in his portrayal. It feels natural, not overly studied or performative, and it helps give the story a drive, leaving you rooting for the young struggling actor as he tries to carve himself a space in an industry that looks determined to reject him.
Ippolito also has wonderful chemistry with AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha, which, much like the movie Rocky has with Adrian, gives an emotional undercurrent to the film that makes this more than just a movie about the making of a best picture winner. It only starts swinging those more fan-servicing punches once it has established that the film works without them, ensuring they feel earned and are not deployed as cheap shots to curry favour with an audience familiar with Rocky. The recreation of many iconic moments is impressively accurate, with a painstaking attention to detail.
A victory lap with substance
The result is a rousing, crowd-pleasing victory lap that delves into Hollywood history with plenty of period-detail quirks and light jabs at the industry at large (Paramount takes a few hits). I Play Rocky makes sure it works as a character drama before it becomes a movie about movie-making, and in doing so it opens up the story beyond just Rocky fans. It stands as a tale many can relate to: a story about dreaming big and striving for more than what others have told you you're worth.
In channelling the underdog spirit of the original classic, with Ippolito's excellent performance as the lightning rod, it works as a crowd-pleasing triumph in its own right. The verdict is that I Play Rocky should work for both Rocky fans and newcomers alike, delivering a crowd-pleasing story of perseverance and self-belief powered by a staggeringly uncanny lead performance. I Play Rocky hits cinemas in the UK and US from November 6, 2026.
