Riggan's Birdman persona. Is he a malevolent presence that wants to torment Riggan? Or a gruff voice of reason meant to help Riggan by telling him the truth and boosting his ego? Or is he somewhere in between? A figure providing a mental crutch that simultaneously traps Riggan in his nostalgia and helps him get through the stress of his Troubled Production?
The audience on opening night can be subjected to this. When they give the show a standing ovation after Riggan shoots himself, do they actually know that the suicide attempt was real, or do they think it's All Part of the Show? Given the many people in the theatre, there's the very real possibility that some thought the former and some thought the latter. We don't get to see the aftermath of Riggan's shooting ourselves, so it's debatable how realistic it looked to everyone in that audience, especially given the different views they'd have based on seating.
Although the film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, tying The Grand Budapest Hotel for the most nominations, it received no nomination for Film Editing, which is strange considering how it's one of the most distinctive aspects of the film's style.
Many fans feel that Michael Keaton should've won for Best Actor at the 2015 Oscars over Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything. Keaton swept the Critics' awards and was widely regarded as the favorite and frontrunner, until Redmayne beat him at both the Screen Actors Guild and BAFTAs. The fact that Redmayne's film is seen by many as forgettable Oscar Bait while Birdman is viewed as a classic doesn't help matters, neither does Keaton's performance continuing to receive acclaim years later while Redmayne's is usually only brought up when people complain about his win.
Lesley and Laura's gay kiss scene, which doesn't have any impact on the plot and is never mentioned again afterwards, and Laura doesn't even get called out for cheating on Riggan.
There's also a quick background shot of two naked people walking around backstage, who may or may not be the above mentioned.
Crosses the Line Twice: The idea that the general public would be so enraptured by an actor actually shooting himself onstage is both nightmarish but also strangely comedic due to its sheer absurdity.
Genius Bonus: Of course, Borges'Labyrinths is the book Mike is reading while in the tanning booth. It's blatantly symbolic of him, Riggan, and the film's high art obsession along with the film's Magical Realism elements.
Harsher in Hindsight: Mike attempting to rape his costar onstage and suffering no consequences is bad enough, but it looks even worse in a story about showbiz released a few years before the Me Too scandals exposed widespread sexual abuse across Hollywood.
Despite losing the Oscar for Best Actor to Eddie Redmayne, there's no denying that Michael Keaton delivers a stunning performance after over a decade of mediocre and secondary roles. His work here was so good, it completely reignited his career, and has caused film fanatics to continue decrying his Oscar loss years after the fact.
While she was still seen as a strong actress beforehand, Emma Stone's work here wowed many and resulted in her first Oscar nomination.
After this film reflecting Iñarritu's real life distaste for superhero movies with a special focus on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actor playing the show's costumer went on to a prominent role in Jessica Jones (2015).
So much regarding Michael Keaton, which makes the metatextual aspects of the movie all the more relevant and hilarious.
An action sequence in the middle of the film has Birdman tell Riggan that once he's done with his play on Broadway, he should go back to doing superhero movies on the side. Keaton would take jobs from both Marvel Studios and DC Films only a few years after Birdman, on top of doing multiple high-profile roles that received critical acclaim.
Keaton being confirmed to play Vulture in that movie is a pretty obvious Actor Allusion to this movie, making the concept of the Birdman persona in its relation to promoting Riggan's Career Resurrection amusing. That in-movie, it says that they need to go back to doing another Birdman movie now that Riggan is in the limelight again, makes Keaton's decision to play Vulture outright hysterical.
During the famous naked Broadway walk scene, a person dressed in Spider-Man costume appears in the crowd◊, making for some pretty amusing comments.
Aditionally, Keaton's casting in a Spider-Man movie puts his estranged relationship with his daughter—whose actress, Emma Stone, played Gwen Stacy in the now-defunct The Amazing Spider-Man Series—in an amusing new light, considering that both thespians are now separated by different incarnations of Spider-Man adaptations.
Not only that, but in Homecoming, he's also the father of a different Spider-Man love interest, specifically Liz Allen.
Having Zack Galifianakis co-star with Keaton gets one since he would later go on to play a Joker.
And finally, to send it all home, Keaton did end up reprising his role as Batman in the DC Extended Universe film The Flash, with his presence being even more hyped up in marketing materials than the titular character.
Hype Backlash: Following its Oscar win for Best Picture, there was a slew of criticism that the movie's victory was more politically motivated due to its numerous Take Thats at the Superhero genre and the director's own quite negative remarks about the genre.
Sam's not very nice, but when you consider that Riggan is her father, it's hard to blame her — while it's clear he loves her, he's often too self-involved and unbalanced to be a good parent. She has to put up with his (and everyone else's) bullshit constantly, and is often viewed as a nuisance at best by the others.
Riggan is certainly a flawed individual. He thinks too highly of himself, doesn't realize how insulting he can be to those around him, was apparently a rather bad family man in his heyday, and if we're to believe him, he dropped a light on Ralph simply because he's bad actor. At the same time, he's so pathetically washed up nowadays that it's hard not to pity him. He's clearly putting everything he has into the show, only to have every kind of personal and professional problem pop up, including relationship problems with both his family and girlfriend, dealing with a major Prima Donna, repeatedly being publicly humiliated, and facing off against a critic who is dead set on destroying his show out of pure spite. Not to mention, whether he has powers or not, it's clear that Riggan is very far from mentally well, to the point that he attempts suicide.
Narm: Lesley reveals that she's sleeping with Mike by saying "We share a vagina". This has caused a few viewers to say "Who talks like that?".
Nightmare Fuel: Riggan shooting himself. Both the act itself, but also everyone's reaction, who, rather than being horrified, proclaim him to be a genius who has made an artistic breakthrough.
Sci Fi Ghetto: While the film stands as an aversion considering it was a great success, and had a lucrative award season, arguably some of it is believed to come from Iñárritu's own distaste for superhero films bleeding over to the film.
Strawman Has a Point: Within the context of the movie they are presented as being wrong, but you can admit that the arguments are fairly decent.
In Sam's "The Reason You Suck" Speech, she rightly points out that Broadway is essentially a medium that is mostly financed and supported by rich white people, so he's really trying to cater to a super elite rather than actual people and what the majority of people are interested or care about.
Birdman in trying to convince Riggan to make "Birdman IV: The Phoenix Rises" points out that people already have miserable lives and that providing them with something that distracts them from this and makes them happy is better than forcing them to confront their insecurities and disappointments.
Even Tabitha makes a few good points in her criticism that Riggan is mostly just putting on his play in a desperate attempt to revive his floundering career and be seen as more than just Birdman. While she's obviously wrong in declaring that she'll give it a scathing review purely on principle rather than the play's own merits, her pointing out that Riggan and actors like him try to use theater to reinvent themselves as "serious" actors does ring true.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The seamless blending of each shot to make it seem like the whole film was made in the space of a day is well-regarded here, to the point where the VFX sequence that comes when Riggan is off in his own world gets overlooked.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Much of the characters come off as this for doing nothing about Lesley's near-rape, particularly Mike who's treated as an just an overly extreme actor but not an abusive danger to her and the crew.
◊, making for some pretty amusing comments.
