But For Excess A Contender

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2014)

It is difficult for a film to live up to the amount of critical hype ascribed to BIRDMAN. I certainly cannot say I didn't enjoy the film, I don't want to offer some pretentious insight and I'm certainly not a seasoned theater or movie critic. Allow me to lay it on the line in a straightforward manner: BM should have stuck to Keaton's character entirely; e.g., without the scenes containing daughter, girlfriends, etc. The film could have done well without the weird "powers" - we get the point that Riggan THINKS he's superhuman, all the mind-over-matter tossing about is distracting. The film would have been fine coming in around 85 minutes, trimming the underwear walk and two of it's three endings. In a nutshell, the makers have a smart product in BM and with discipline and restraint could have easily walked away with this year's Oscar. As it stands, BM gives new definition to ostentatious.