Movie review for the day

Rico and the ladyfriend went to see The Butler, and it was great:

Starring Forest Whitaker in the title role, it portrays the history of black people in America through the eyes of a man (Cecil Gaines) who started out picking cotton in the South, then ended up working in the White House for eight Presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower (played by, of all people, Robin Williams) through Ronald Reagan (played by Alan Rickman; his wife Nancy was played by Jane Fonda). (But Cecil lived, even if his wife, played by Oprah Winfrey, didn't, alas, to see Barack Obama elected.)
It stars every major black movie star (except, yet again, for Dennis Haybert, he of the insurance commercials) working today; even Mariah Carey, who played Cecil's mother, back on the farm. There's also a white actor or two, of course; Vanessa Redgrave played the matriarch of his owner's family, and Robin Williams played Eisenhower, James Marsden played JFK (with Minka Kelly playing Jackie), Liev Schreiber played LBJ, John Cusack played Nixon, and Nelsan Ellis played Martin Luther King, Jr.
There was a period-piece during the 70s, when his son went off to join the Black Panthers, that got us Clarence Williams III, and a bunch of character actors playing the other butlers, including Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Rico says it was, overall, quite a star turn, and deftly done. As Joe Bob Briggs would say, check it out.