The worst of all the Rocky movies

If you never watched any Rocky movies, I suggest you watch them.
Keep in mind, you can very much get away with skipping this one.
You are probably best off watching Rocky 1 thru 4 and then Rocky Balboa in order to maintain any reedeeming qualities that this series may have.

Rocky 5 brings to our attention (with mostly sub-par acting) the corruptness that is involved in boxing. Mostof us were already aware of this. Rocky 5 also tries to tell us of a story of family sticking together through rough times. It's a noble story but again done with sub-par acting.

For die-hard Rocky fans, you may as well own this one just to complete the collection. But unlike the other Rocky movies, don't watch it for any other reason but just for the hell of it because you're bored and looking to kill an hour an a half of time.

Even Sly Stallone admits that he's a little embarrassed by Rocky 5, and is one of the reasons why he wrote Rocky Balboa. And he definitely did a great job at reedeeming this story and character with Rocky Balboa

Rocky V

I LOVE the "Rocky" series!! I'm a BIG Sylvester Stallone fan, and the Rocky movies make us "underdogs" feel like we have a shot....!! Not to mention that "Sly" is really HOT looking in boxing trunks!!!!

Father-son bonding saved this

I sat up late last night watching this movie and I have to agree with most that this was the weakest of the Rocky movies in terms of plot and plausibility. The Rocky of the first four movies, who despite his lack of education and slow exterior, is far from stupid and rather shrewd in reading people (except maybe his brother in law Paulie). In this movie, Rocky makes departures from character that brain damage can't explain. It's hard to believe that Rock wouldn't see through a violent upstart like Tommy, trust alcoholic Paulie to be in charge of his finances at all in the first place, or be that distant from his son (though of course he doesn't realize he is at all in his zeal to develop his own version of Mini-Me). And that street fight was just corny.
However, what saved this movie for me was the interaction between Rocky and "the kid" because it was played by a real life father and son. Sly and Sage didn't have to act those scenes-those tender shows of affection (mostly on Rocky's part), and Rocky's heartfelt plea to assure his son of his wish to keep the "home team" intact, were absolutely genuine, and made the movie worthwhile to me (of course, I love sappy stuff like that).
I'm only sorry Sage didn't return for Rocky 6...