Birdman: A Smart Movie with a Stupid Ending

Rating: 6/10 (28 January 2015)

There is a movie making the rounds of the award shows about an actor who was last widely known for playing a famous superhero in tights. He is attempting a comeback doing something artsy, not unlike Michael Keaton in Birdman. Because it's self-reflexive, it must be FABULOUS! Well, not so much. But it is usually smart and oft entertaining. Like a piece of lesser-known theater, it has its moments.
There are some things that are fabulous in Birdman. First, the bits of magical realism throughout the film work quite well, until the ending. Second, there is Ed Norton chewing up the scenery with controlled, skillful over-acting. And last on the list of the fabulous is the jazz drumming that follows the actors as they wind their way through the maze of rooms: dressing, make-up, costumes, and through the stage rigging, the lights and other tools of the trade found backstage at a Broadway theater.
The other acting is as good as its script allows. Emma Stone is fun as Sam, Riggan's (Birdman) daughter, but her petulance becomes irksome after awhile. We fail to see one moment of genuine emotion from the character, even when showing her concern for her father. Her father, Riggan, is played adequately by Michael Keaton, but the famous actor down-on-his- luck schtick is tiresome. Riggan takes himself so seriously that he is a bore. Somehow, I believe that was NOT the intent of the director/writer Iñárritu.
Naomi Watts is adequate, but her character's lines about trying to "make it on Broadway" were repeated too many times for me to care. It wasn't so much her acting that annoyed me, her hackneyed and out of place dialogue. If she improvised them, well, then it was her acting.
Zach Galifianakis was surprisingly not the most annoying one in the movie this time. He plays the straight man, the producer of the play, to counterbalance all the lunacy of the actors. He keeps it together and does a fine job.
Iñárritu is making an artistic comeback himself as the writer and director of "Birdman", not receiving this much acclaim since his first feature, "Amores Perros", a much more compelling drama. "Birdman" is interesting and clever with all its metaphor and fantasy. The problem is that Iñárritu could not get away from magical realism long enough to make a coherent ending. And as we all know, a terrible ending can turn a good film into a mediocre film. That, unfortunately, is what happens to "Birdman." It's treatment is so unusual, but its theme of a washout actor making a comeback so worn out, that a cogent ending was needed to make it work.
The camera work and editing are excellent, as are the sets. The script is at times brilliant and at other moments, mundane. Another run-through by actors and other writers may have brought some needed realism to the magic on the screen. As far as New York goes, the city plays its part well, as always.
Rating: Matinée
It's fair, but for a better, harder hitting film featuring a washed-out actor, rent "Sunset Boulevard."
Peace, Tex Shelters