Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a washed-up actor who was once known for portraying the superhero Birdman in a trilogy of successful films. Now he is attempting a career comeback by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway play all while dealing with his ego, his family, his co-stars, critics, and the media. Co-starring Zach Galifianakis as Jake (Thomson's producer/attorney/best friend), Emma Stone as Thomson's daughter Sam (recently released from rehab and working as an assistant for the play), Edward Norton as notorious method actor Mike Shiner (who's cast in Thomson's play as a last minute replacement), Andrea Riseborough as Thomson's girlfriend Laura (who is co-starring in Thomson's play), Amy Ryan as Thomson's ex-wife Sylvia, and Naomi Watts as Lesley (a first time Broadway actress cast in Thomson's play). The latest from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the director of '21 Grams', 'Babel', 'Biutiful', and 'Amores Perros'.
Well...let's just say I'm in the rather small minority of those who disliked 'Birdman'. Is it a bad movie by any means? Not necessarily. There are aspects that I liked, but as a whole it just didn't work for me.
Okay, let's get the good things out of the way before I go on lengthy diatribes about what I didn't really like. Overall I do think this a rather original movie. Comeback stories and behind the scenes stories have been done to death, but never before has it been done quite like this. Every now and then the movie is funny, with the main highlight being Keaton getting locked out of the back of the theater during a preview performance and having to walk all the way around the theater to get into it through the front and dealing with a crowded Times Square. Throughout the movie the Birdman character is often heard (and seen twice) berating Michael Keaton and saying how far his star has fallen since he turned down 'Birdman 4' and how the play isn't going to be a success. Those I thought were very well done. It also contains some rather harsh indictments of critics (from Keaton) and blockbusters (from Birdman) which contained some nuggets of truth to them, with the nuggets of truth also present in a rant to Michael Keaton about one's relevancy in the world from Emma Stone. Those I thought were also really good. And sometimes the camerawork does look really good, but I'll get more into that later.
Now what didn't I like about this critical darling? Well certain elements to the movie were rather distracting and kept me from consistently being fully invested in the movie.
- The obvious parallels to real life. Michael Keaton was once famous for portraying Batman, turned down the third 'Batman' movie, and while he's not washed up he certainly hasn't had the same level of success since then. Edward Norton is a method actor who is notorious for being difficult to work with, locking directors out of editing rooms and doing uncredited rewrites on scripts to various movies he's worked on, including the 'Hulk' reboot. Now each have their moments (Keaton confronting a critic in a bar and when Norton and Keaton are fighting each other), but for the most part I wasn't seeing characters, I was just seeing the actors themselves. The rest of the cast is fine, but no one really stood out in my opinion. Usually movies that have real life parallels to their actors doesn't bother me, but this is a rare case where it did.
- Roughly 98% of the movie is edited to look like it was shot in one take. Some have called this impressive. Once again, I'm in the minority on this one. The one-shot gimmick got old rather quickly as time passed in the movie. And with the one-shot gimmick, I'm being distracted from the story by thinking to myself okay, maybe there was a cut here or perhaps this was a cut. Also a sense of knowing the passage of time also goes away, but that's a bit of a minor complaint. While the movie does look good and does feature some incredible shots, but the one-shot gimmick kept me from praising it.
- The score is a rousing drum heavy jazz based score which sounds great on it's own, but it became a nuisance in some scenes and attracted a lot of attention to itself.
'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)' isn't without its moments of humor and truth, but overall it's a rather distracting movie that kept me from getting fully invested in it. This is getting a lot of awards buzz, and sadly when awards season comes around instead of thinking how good this movie is I'm going to keep thinking how on Earth is this getting the acclaim that it's getting. The same things I thought last year with 'American Hustle' and 'Dallas Buyers Club'. Ugh.
TRAILERS
- 'Mr. Turner' - a biopic on the life of British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall). Winner of a few awards at Cannes including Best Actor. On a technical level it looks beautifully shot. But the movie itself looks fairly stuffy and dry. And looking up that it has a 149 minute running time...it could be a rather long sit. Unless it's awards season momentum somehow carries it towards a Best Picture nomination then I'm gonna pass.
- 'Foxcatcher' - I've seen this trailer before but it's the first time seeing it in a theater. I've talked about it in my 'Awards Season Preview' post, but the movie actually does look really good.
- 'Wild' - another one that I've seen the trailer before but not in a theater. And once again, another movie that I talked about in my 'Awards Season Preview' post. You lost me at 'From the director of "Dallas Buyers Club"'. Only a Best Picture nomination would make me see this.
- 'The Homesman' - Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in this western that sees Hilary Swank recruiting him to help transport three women to their homes. It didn't look bad and usually I like westerns.
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