In a genre that can easily be tired and cliched, this offers a couple interesting turns.

Meh ... ta, too meta. A movie about a movie about a writer about a movie. The performances are fine but my interest was mostly trying to answer the question "What is this? What am I watching?". Similar movies have tickled my curiosity in a good way, this I found mildly annoying and unsatisfying.

I've avoided David Cronenberg movies for almost 30 years and now I remember why. What an obnoxious, ugly, horrendous pile of crap.

To quote Julianne Moore as she sat farting on the toilet, "I think I'm going to need an enema".

Whiplash is the movie I was hoping for and didn't get in Birdman.
Can excellence be achieved without sacrifice? At what price? Like its jazz soundtrack, Whiplash is riveting, scarey, soaring, brooding and enthralling, often all at the same time. Bravo.