‘Birdman’ takes flight, then collapses in exhaustion

Early on in the new Michael Keaton movie “Birdman,” a cocky actor tells a teenage girl fresh out of rehab that she’s “kind of a beautiful mess.” That’s how I’d sum up the movie, as well. A beautiful mess.

It’s getting a lot of deserved buzz for its grand ambitions and bravura acting turns, and sure, it takes flight, but boy, does it wobble, too.

Keaton plays a one-time star of Hollywood blockbusters who’s trying to revive his moribund career by writing, directing, and starring in a very literary Broadway play.

There are skeptics everywhere, like critics who think he’s “trying to battle the impression that he’s a washed-up comic strip character.”

As with most Broadway productions, everything is in crisis mode a few days before opening night. Pressures mount as Keaton battles his manager (Zach Galifianakis), his co-stars, especially an obnoxious and egotistical stage actor played to the hilt by Edward Norton, and his bitter teenage daughter (Emma Stone).

But of all his torments, the worst are his own internal demons who pester him with self-disgust and doubt (and most disturbingly, in the voice of his superhero alter ego, The Birdman.)

Keaton begins to lose his grasp on reality as he confronts his deepest fears and failures.

Tellingly, “Birdman” is directed by Alejandro Inaurritu, who’s made dramatically powerful and daring films like “Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” and “Babel.”

“Birdman” is equally grandiose, but in this case, I think his reach too far exceeds his grasp.

Inaurritu not only wants to play with notions of art versus life, talent versus ambition, integrity versus success, and fantasy versus reality, he also throws in psychological crises with Keaton’s daughter, his ex-wife, his pregnant girlfriend, and of course, his Birdman persona.

“Birdman” the movie doesn’t so much wrap up as collapse in exhaustion. There are some truly transcendent moments – the confrontations on and off stage between Keaton and Norton are electric, and the near seamless tracking shot for the film’s entire two-hour duration is exhilarating.

But in the end, when “Birdman” wants to be seen as profound beyond all measure, it’s also almost embarrassingly cornball. Exactly what Keaton’s character is most afraid of.

Hey, maybe that’s Inaurritu’s point! But somehow I doubt it.