Probably the worst of the recent "best."

Rating: 1/10 (6 February 2015)

Curious isn't it? Lots of people say they love it but I have no idea why. Michael Keaton was, apparently, a box office superhero star. He seeks to authenticate his life by making a Broadway hit on stage. It seems that what he had before was somehow lacking and caused him to fail both his wife and daughter. A part of him, characterized by a voice from within, keeps wanting to lure him back to fame and fortune. Another part of him, (rather less clearly cast), suggests that he is genuinely possessed of super powers, (telekinesis and the ability to fly at the very least). The film itself, partly driven by the Broadway play which both advances and reflects its themes, staggers between massive issues about love of family, artistic integrity and, crucially, being true to yourself, without examining any of them adequately. All the characters are little more than sketches and, given that this is precisely what Keaton is seeking to redress, the result is disappointing. If this film was really an artistically dressed up version of the idea that the abandonment of family and clutching at fantasy amounts to being washed up, it succeeds in stating the obvious. If it's about the difficulty to be found in recovering from such losses by regaining the love of those who matter (including love of self) it simply fails to gel. None of the characters is sufficiently developed for the viewer to be able to say very much about them or what it is that they might find lovable. There's a wife, there's a daughter, there's a movie critic, there are some fellow actors and there are some incidentals including Keaton's "best" friend. I watched the film in silence and felt a cloud descending. It didn't lift and I had no idea who anyone was. That can't have been the aim.....can it?