“Birdman” is one of those films where many film critics and award shows acted as if they had seen the best thing since sliced bread but I really don’t think the high praise that this film received was deserved. The film stars Michael Keaton (“Beetlejuice”, “Batman”) and serves as a sort-of parody of his own career after his past success playing Batman yet it seems so concerned with being as artsy as possible, it fails an almost every other front.

In this movie, Riggan Thomson (Keaton) is washed-up actor that has struggled to stay in the spotlight in the decades since he played the movie superhero Birdman. He now hopes to direct, write and star in a Broadway play but he struggles with his inner demons and with those around him.

I was hoping for a great performance from Keaton but the material is so poor that he has nothing to work with. The same is also true for Edward Norton (“American History X”), who plays one of the actors in the play. Norton’s character is also a sort-of loose parody of himself as his character is very difficult to work with, much like Norton’s real-life reputation. Emma Stone (“Easy A”), Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover”) and Naomi Watts (“The Ring”) are all in here as well and none of them are entertaining.

“Birdman” is made to look as if it is one continuous take (somewhat like the movie “Rope”), there is a bizarre dream sequence, there are numerous rants about depression, the entertainment industry etc… so it’s clear that this film is trying to be as artistic as possible. This is a truly boring movie where pretty much nothing happens as you are merely left with uncomfortable ramblings that supposedly constitute the film’s dialog. I didn’t like this movie at all and I imagine there are many others out there that didn’t but the snobbery of the critics and the award shows has probably silenced a lot of them.