"Rocky Is Me," a film about the making of Sylvester Stallone's 1976 sports drama "Rocky," premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the first reviews from critics have started to appear.
Most of the early reaction has been positive. Reviewers praised the film for its touching depiction of how the classic movie came together, saying the filmmakers captured both the sincerity and the toughness of the original project while taking audiences through Stallone's difficult journey to get it made. Some critics were harsher, arguing that the film reduces the famous actor's story to a banal, overly simple arc that plays more like a parody than a true biographical drama.
One review said "Rocky Is Me" conveys, in the most convincing way, the heartfelt, beloved triumph of the 1976 classic, calling it one of the best films of the year so far and already among the best movies ever made about filmmaking itself.
Another critic called the film simply stunning, writing that it matches the original in sincerity and toughness and that its lead actor is so convincing it feels like watching Stallone himself from decades ago.
A more measured review said the film never reaches the grandeur that drove the original story but has enough heart and enough funny moments to be worth watching. A harsher take described it as an unpretentious, mass-audience film that amounts to little more than a walking parody, borrowing the best ideas from "Rocky" and recreating its memorable scenes while missing the humanism of the original. One reviewer went further, writing that the film has nothing to do with who Stallone really was or who he became through creating Rocky, and that it only cares about making audiences remember who wrote the classic, not why.
What the film is about
"Rocky," released in 1976 and starring Stallone as down-and-out boxer Rocky Balboa, went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and became one of the most celebrated sports dramas in film history. "Rocky Is Me" tells the story of how a then-unknown Stallone wrote the screenplay and fought to be cast in the lead role himself, rather than let a studio hand the part to a bigger star.
Stallone is played in the film by actor Anthony Ippolito, who previously portrayed a young Al Pacino in "The Offer," the television series that dramatized the making of "The Godfather."
Release date
"Rocky Is Me" is scheduled to open in Russian cinemas on November 26.
