At times cartoonish (Daniel Day-Lewis occasionally channels Ben Stiller as Lincoln)- although what Spielberg picture can, all together, avoid that trap- this lengthy tale of Lincoln's efforts to have approved the 13th Amendment is ultimately enchanting and affecting, especially viewed amid the backdrop of current States' Rights shenanigans, unfinished (occasionally Presidential) race business, and modern day homosexual civil rights drama.
Sally Field is a bit uneven, not quite mustering enough oomph to prove that her Mary is anywhere close to exhaustion or madness as she claims, but in a few scenes. Tommy Lee Jones' greatest strength comes not from his obstreperous jabs at the pro-slavery Democrats, but his many stubborn silences. And while there are definitely some unexpectedly grand performances, such as a somewhat portly James Spader's loosely described lobbyist W.N. Bilbo, the real shining star here is, in fact, Day-Lewis, whose Lincoln is mostly gentle and haunted and entrancing, albeit in a Spielbergian way which is slightly undermined by, among other things, what one is forced to agree (w/ The New Yorker's Anthony Lane) is a foolish coda.
Not without its flaws, but a clean, quick and gripping two and a half hour snapshot. Recommend.
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