A movie for people who think they should like it.

Rating: 2/10 (14 April 2013)

People like this movie like because they think they should like it.
While the acting (Daniel Day Lewis was very good) and direction were good, the screenplay was horrible. Very little was about Lincoln and it focused mainly on the passage of the 13th Amendment. It would be similar to titling a movie MLK and then focusing the Congressional debate behind the passage of the Civil Rights Act. It just seems that the marketers thought that a movie about the passage of the 13th Amendment wouldn't get good ticket sales, so they decided to name it "Lincoln". Well, if you name it Lincoln try to spend a little more time on the complexities of the man and not how dysfunctional the House or Representatives has always been.
Also, it was peppered with politically corrected history, which seemed to be forced into the movie (the black soldier being allowed to complain to Lincoln seemed out of step with 1865 America; large parades and cheering by white citizens when the Amendment passed; Thaddeus Stephens black mistress/wife). I just have a hard time believing that 1865 America was that cheerful about black's rights (even in the north).
The worst part is that many of these faults could be forgiven if it wasn't such a tedious chore to watch.