A movie that calls out unsophisticated audiences

Rating: 3/10 (30 November 2014)

This movie is about how the American public will shell out good money to watch action packed junk and the disdain that the writer/director feels towards them. The movie plot is about a former action movie star who wants to show the world he is a real actor. But he will not get that chance. The public does not want him to move past his role as the super hero Birdman, critics do not like him because he is too Hollywood and other theater actors do not like him because he is not a real actor, an actor who only measures success "one weekend at a time" as Ed Norton's character states.
The audience is given the story very early on in the movie. I cannot even call it foreshadowing because the ending is so blatantly given away by a couple of characters. There should be no surprise to anyone watching this movie what will happen. But alas, the unsophisticated in the audience where I viewed the film were surprised. The dance sequence after the ultimate ending scene in the play in the movie pokes fun at Spiderman on Broadway, Marvel comic book movies, Michael Bay via his Transformers series, etc. That along with the earlier speeches with the critic, one feels that this movie is nothing more than a giant middle finger from the director and writer to the viewer.
Michael Keaton does a great acting job. But the story is not something that I would call moving or revealing. The final irony is that a viewer will be out at least $10 for being told that they really don't matter.