Sylvester Stallone [is] as likable as a basset hound.
Overview
Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The story is achingly familiar, and though Stallone has a certain power, he is certainly not the subtlest actor to crawl out from under Marlon's overcoat.
There are occasional flashes that the film may be patronizing the lower end of the blue-collar mentality, as much if not more than the characters who keep putting Rocky down on the screen. However, Avildsen is noted for creating such ambiguities.
I wanted to like it more than I did, but it'll do.
Rocky is an old-fashioned fairytale brilliantly revamped to chime in with the depressed mood of the '70s.
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