Not Oscar Worthy, but it won anyway

Rating: 3/10 (2 March 2015)

Riggan (Michael Keaton) a former successful actor who was the Super-Hero Birdman from the Birdman Comic books looks to recapture his star-power by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway play. He is basically down on his luck, says he is broke and hopes the play will put him in the spotlight once more. He faces certain hurdles as the Previews prove that all is not right.
This is like watching a play within a play and it was hard to see where one began and the other ended. The dialogues all sounded like they were playing to the back of the room Not good. To make matters worse we kept hearing a snare and a bass drum that were so annoying one could hardly hear what a character was saying. What was up with that? Are we back in Vaudeville? Where there punch lines? The drums played (?) throughout the entire movie. Why?
This was billed as a comedy. I didn't see or hear anything funny. This was nominated for Best Picture and it actually won. Unbelievable. What were they thinking?
This could have been a lot better, in my opinion, if many of the dialogues were toned down some, but they were what they were: mean-spirited and somewhat out of control. Riggan feels that Mike (Edward Norton) was taking over the play and upstaging him; Riggan's daughter Sam (Emma Stone) recently out of rehab goes on a tirade telling her father he really doesn't matter anymore. Nice, eh?
The whole movie is based upon Riggan's insecurities and at times (okay many times) he, too, goes out of control. Ah, is that a cue for the Academy to nominate Keaton for Best Actor? Keaton is a good actor but - as mentioned - this would have been a lot better if everything was toned down. To be truthful, I couldn't wait for this to be over.
What was good? The scenes between Sam and Mike and their truth-or-dare games were quite touching. Edward Norton as Mike, who was brought in to help save the play, was a breath of fresh air. Zach Galifianakis as Jake, Riggan's best friend and lawyer was spot on trying to keep everything together as Riggan kept going off the deep-end. Bar scene: Theater Critic (Lindsay Duncan) tells Riggan he is a fraud and Riggan tells her she is nothing more than a labeler. She vows to kill his play.
Still the basic problem was that we (okay I) kept seeing this as a play within a play. More separation was needed. The character dialogues sounded like they were still in the play even when they were in real time.
Okay, there was one funny line that Riggan stated when he was explaining his insolvency "my health outlasted the money."
Over all how this won the Oscar for Best Picture is way beyond me. I was not entertained. (3/10)
Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes. Nudity: No. Lesbian Kiss: Yes, briefly, nothing erotic Language: Yes. Rating: D