‘Sly’ Review: A Profile of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Road of a Career Is Headier Than You Expect
variety.comOwen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic For decades, as I’ve watched Sylvester Stallone on talk shows or caught bits and pieces of promotional interviews with him, my impression, without pondering it much, has been that he’s a dude with a certain charismatic native intelligence.
Yet “Sly,” the infectious and fascinating portrait of Stallone and his movies that premiered today at the Toronto Film Festival, is built around an interview with Stallone conducted in his splendid, art-bedecked Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills (he has since sold it to Adele).
And throughout the film, he’s so calmly but blazingly articulate, so candid about the processes of moviemaking and his strengths (and weaknesses) as an actor, so wise about the meaning of his own stardom, that I realized, with a touch of embarrassment, a prejudice I’ve been carrying around for 47 years.
Deep in my reptile brain, I still think Sylvester Stallone is Rocky. I think a lot of people do. On the surface, that may not seem such a garish misjudgment.
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