Self indulgent and boring

Rating: 2/10 (21 February 2015)

The only reason I can fathom that this has been nominated for a best picture Academy Award is that it is a story about actors angst and so appeals in some way to the Actors voting. Overacted and clichéd this story has been told before and much better. Perhaps there are a number of industry inside gags that the average cinema going public wouldn't get. I dunno, but I do know I spent a tedious 2 hours or more hoping somehow the film would redeem itself. It didn't. The best thing in the movie in my view was the special effects of Michael Keaton flying and the big Birdman chasing him. It wasn't enough to sustain my interest.
Edward Norton is one of my favourite actors, but his portrayal here of the actor as "artist" was overwrought. Emma Stone put in a nice performance as the troubled indulgent daughter just out rehab and Micheal Keaton did his best, but the script didn't give them much to work with. Every character was the cliché you would expect in a story about a celebrity wanting to be taken seriously as an " artiste". Sadly there were no surprises in the story arc. The ending was kitschy and ridiculous.
In my cinema one of the patrons snored loudly through the last hour and a number walked out. I wish I had. Don't waste your money.