Did this really win the Academy Award for Best Picture?!

Rating: 5/10 (11 July 2015)

Birdman received a lot of critical acclaim as well as garnering many awards including the coveted Best Picture Academy Award for 2014. To be honest I thought this was one of the most overrated movies. Nothing against Michael Keaton (who makes a welcome comeback), Edward Norton (always reliable), Naomi Watts, Emma Stone and Zach Galifianakis (who looks great after shedding the kilos) who were decent in this movie, the story was just too arty and weird. I just didn't get all the critical acclaim about this movie.
Washed up actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, Batman), who once played iconic superhero Birdman, is struggling to recapture his former glory as an actor by appearing in a play on New York's prestigious Broadway. In his debut on Broadway, he is appearing in an adaptation of Raymond Carver's story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". The only problems he must contend with include his ego, attempts to reconnect with his family including his daughter Sam (Emma Stone, The Amazing Spiderman) who is also his personal assistant, and salvage his career and himself in the days leading up to the opening of his Broadway play. The director of the play is Riggan's friend and lawyer Jake (Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover). To throw a spanner in the works so to speak, an on set accident during rehearsals causes an actor to be replaced by the talented but intense and extremely difficult Mike Shiner (Edward Norton, American History X) who is rubbing everyone the wrong way, including Riggan and leading actress Lesley Truman (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive) with whom Mike attempts to rape during a sex scene.
Birdman is interlaced with narration from Riggan's alter ego Birdman as well as visions of feats of paranormal acts. I didn't get as to what relevance this had to the movie. And for a comedy, I found it to be far too serious.
As I said before, I had nothing against the cast. The big talking point of the movie is Michael Keaton. In a case of life imitating art, Michael Keaton in particular showed he can show off his acting chops. He was big in the 1980's as a comedic actor but later kicked his career in another gear following the mega-success of Batman (1989). After the mid 1990's, Michael Keaton's career all but disappeared into mediocrity however he is slowly and steadily making a comeback.
I found this movie to be very weird and strange. I just didn't quite get the movie and all the critical acclaim surrounding the movie. I don't really know how this won the Best Picture Academy Award. I guess this just was not my cup of tea.
5/10.