This is a stage play that Alejandro decided to film...

Rating: 2/10 (1 March 2015)

First let me say that this movie is not cinematic!! It's a stage play that Alejandro decided to film. That said, the cinematic choices were very weak. After the fifteenth time following Michael Keaton (with a steadicam) through the dingy maze of theater hallways, or looking again at his or someone else's depressing dressing room, I longed to see something genuinely cinematic. There was a brief respite when Riggan fantasized about reviving Birdman as a superhero movie which was actually intended to make fun of tent-pole pics. I'm not a fan of tent-pole pics, but I am a fan of good cinematic storytelling.
In addition, since the story starts with Riggan frantically preparing to open a Broadway play, the audience never has a chance to connect emotionally with him. For ninety minutes, we see him freaking out -- Yawn. We don't care because we didn't travel with him to this point in his life. He alludes to his past in bits of clever dialog, but that's not enough to get the audience rooting for him to succeed.
Since most critics are primarily writers and most actors honed their chops in traditional theater, I suspect the high praise for this film comes from a segment of the entertainment industry that reveres the art of literary prose and barely understands the art of cinematic prose.