‘I Play Rocky’ Is My New Favorite Movie Ever

Obviously with this headline I'm doing a bit of "a bit" here. A bit that, for people who don't know me, think is me being dead serious. On social media, someone replied to me, "Oh, so it's better than The Night of the Hunter? The Exorcist?" This made me laugh out loud, mainly because of how legitimately angry this person seemed and for the choice of movies. That I would leave I Play Rocky and think to myself, "Hm, is this movie about Sylvester Stallone making Rocky better than Night of the Hunter? You know what? I think it is. In fact, it's better than all of cinematic history."

Having said that! My goodness, I Play Rocky is the definition of a crowd-pleaser. (Look, any movie that includes the line, "Shut the fuck up, Burgess!" is going to be near and dear to my heart.) And it has pleased crowds here at the Toronto International Film Festival. Make more Stallone “I Play” movies. Bring on I Play Cobra. I can’t wait until I Play John Spartan. Though, these are the kinds of movies that do give me slight pause because they just play so well in front of an enthusiastic crowd that it's just such a fun experience, and it's hard not to factor that in.

But I always ask myself, "Will I watch this on cable a million times if it's on?," and I feel confident that the answer is, "I will watch I Play Rocky 40 or so times before I die."

(This is a free post for "free tier" subscribers. But, The Hard Pass can't continue existing without paying subscribers. Paying subscribers can read the story I was told about Tom Cruise that is now my favorite Tom Cruise story, the time I accidentally tricked a Lost actor into spoiling the ending, and asking cast members from Ocean's 12 if their characters all know they look like famous people since Tess knows she looks like Julia Roberts.)