[1][2] With a release delayed for several years, Blackbird was dismissed as a vanity project by the entertainment press, with Brian Lloyd of entertainment.ie comparing Flatley to Tommy Wiseau of The Room infamy.

[5] The first screening was a June 2018 private showing for cast and crew at the Stella Cinema, Rathmines, Dublin; Blackbird was shown at The May Fair Hotel, London as part of the Raindance Film Festival on 28 September 2018.

In 2019, Brian Lloyd of entertainment.ie wrote a lengthy investigation of the film, finding out that "over 200 people attended the screening of 'Blackbird', and so far as can be reasonably determined, none of them were journalists or critics.

"[15] Ian Freer of Empire opined, "By far the best performance in the film is by Flatley's seemingly endless collection of hats, the jaunty angle of a trilby suggesting more emotion than the actor ever does.

"[16] Michael Flatley won best actor at the 2021 Monaco Streaming Film Festival,[17] and the Sun reported that "The US tapper's odds of walking off with a gold statuette next year have been slashed from 100/ to 50/1.