A Saga of the Complicated Comeback

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2014)

Everybody seems to like the drama of a comeback. After all, there's something inspiring about anyone who rises from a great fall. And so it goes that Birdman features Michael Keaton portraying an actor who puts everything on the line to restart his career by staging Raymond Carver's "What We Talk about when We Talk about Love," not the most easy-going material to act out or convey to an audience. Along the way, there is much support from Naomi Watts as an actress making her Broadway debut, Edward Norton as a smart-ass, temperamental, hot-item actor and Emma Stone, who plays Keaton's daughter, apparently neglected from growing up with a show business father. It's all very emotionally complicated and sometimes overbearing due to all of the characters' constant bickering, petulance, regret and hand-wringing. Also, amidst all of these real-life dramas, Director Alejandro G. Inarritu injects a kind of supernatural, whimsical element that may be more distracting than constructive. So, is the film worth seeing? Definitely. Might it be a bit overrated and less perfect than expected? In my opinion...yes.