# Making Rocky, the underdog movie about an underdog movie

> Peter Farrelly's making-of drama turns the scrappy backstory of Rocky into its own underdog win.
- Title: Making Rocky, the underdog movie about an underdog movie
- Summary: Peter Farrelly's making-of drama turns the scrappy backstory of Rocky into its own underdog win. Rocky endures because its message of self-belief against…
- Keywords: film review, rocky, sylvester stallone, peter farrelly, hollywood, Making, underdog, movie, The Hollywood Reporter
- Source: The Hollywood Reporter — https://hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/i-play-rocky-review-anthony-ippolito-sylvester-stallone-1236699723
- Author: David Rooney
- Published: 2026-09-13T18:58:52+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: film review, rocky, sylvester stallone, peter farrelly, hollywood
## The movie behind the movie
I Play Rocky retraces how Sylvester Stallone got his boxing script made, with Anthony Ippolito playing him before anyone knew the name.
## A clever framing trick
Screenwriter Peter Gamble and director Peter Farrelly shape the behind-the-scenes struggle into its own underdog triumph, the same beats as the film it is about.

> fashioning the behind-the-scenes story into its own rousing shot of underdog triumph
## Rocky owned 1976
It was the top-grossing film of its year and took best picture at the Oscars the following spring, the defining boomer movie.
## It never faded
Half a century on, every generation since has kept Rocky in circulation as a pop-culture landmark rather than a period piece.
## Why it still hits
Self-belief, resilience and grinding forward against stiff odds: the story still reads as a live version of the American Dream.

> its message of self-belief, resilience and determination against stiff odds
## Fiction, and fine with it
None of Rocky was true, and the review shrugs at that. The feeling it produces is the point, not the accuracy.

> Who cares if it's pure fiction?
## Key takeaway

Rocky endures because its message of self-belief against long odds still lands, no matter that none of it was real.