As of today there is finally a basis for hope in the quest to find a film that can stop The Oydssey in the Best Picture race.
I’ve spoken to an intelligent guy who recently saw and is genuinely, profoundly impressed with Peter Farrelly‘s I Play Rocky (Amazon MGM, 11.6). HE’s tipster is a sensible, savvy adult who knows what’s what as far as a certain sector of industry is concerned. He gets around and knows people, and he believes that the over-45s are not fans of The Odyssey. They simply don’t like it that much.
And while it’s early yet they’re almost dying to vote for a modest, little-engine-that-could film that actually connects on an emotional level.
This is what I Play Rocky does, he says. It’s not some boilerplate, middle-range, “this is how a famous hit movie happened” docudrama, but one that’s exceptionally well shaped, nicely sculpted and impressively acted (especially Anthony Ippolito‘s turn as Sylvester Stallone and AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Sly’s wife) and so on — a film with real feeling.
Did the savvy guy came close to feeling a bit choked up a couple of times? He says he did, yes.
This is it, boys and girls…a way to stop The Odyssey. Not just with anti-Oydssey fervor, which is out there in ample supply, but by honestly preferring the charms of a smallish, seat-of-the-pants, unpretentious, straight-shooting film that older Academy members (along with Joe and Jane Popcorn) might want to embrace instead of rotely following the lead of the robotic Nolanoids and mindlessly fellating a joyless Chris Nolan film.
The battle cry is no longer “Odyssey haters unite!” It is now “let the love for I Play Rocky wash over our community like bottled spring water and thereby cleanse ourselves of the Nolanoid psychology, which everyone is vaguely annoyed by anyway. Nobody wanted to support this fucking film in the first place. Not really.”
New slogan: “You don’t have to hate The Odyssey in order to not vote for it. All you need is to love another film more.”
It’s that simple and it’s your call, Academy voters. If you can find it in your hearts, please try and think about choosing a less predictable path.
