Hi r/entertainment, this is Jake from The Guardian’s audience team. We wanted to share our review of the new Melania Trump documentary from writer Xan Brooks.
*From his story:*
My audience with [Melania](https://www.theguardian.com/film/melania) is booked for Friday lunchtime at a retail park on the outskirts of Bristol, inside a large cinema which appears to have been swept and emptied in readiness. When Brett Ratner’s contentious, Amazon-backed documentary previewed at the White House last weekend, the guestlist included Mike Tyson, Queen Rania of Jordan and the president himself. Today it’s just me in the room and Melania on the screen. It makes for a more intimate and exclusive affair.
This mood of cosy conviviality extends all the way through the opening credits; at which point the chill descends and the novocaine kicks in, as the film’s star and executive producer proceeds to guide us – with agonising glacial slowness – through the preparations for her husband’s second presidential inauguration. She glides from the fashion fitting to the table setting, and from the “candlelit dinner” to the “starlight ball”, with a face like a fist and a voice of sheet metal. “Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.
No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about Melania Knauss, the ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun, but the horrific Melania emphatically isn’t it.
It’s one of those rare, unicorn films that doesn’t have a single redeeming quality. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a documentary, exactly, so much as an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy, horribly overpriced and ice-cold to the touch and proffered like a medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.
>“Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.
My 9 year old happened to walk into the room the other day when the Melania trailer came on. When it was done she looked at me, confused, and asked, “Is she a witch?”
Rare_Investigator582 on
Absolute (No one in) Cinema
copperblood on
Breaking News: Hookers have a short shelf life.
debzmonkey on
Seriously, would you shell out money to see a documentary about any first lady? Naw, this one? Hell naw. If ICE is rounding up immigrants based on their accents, pick this one up.
angrybox1842 on
“No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about Melania Knauss, the ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun”
Savage
JL98008 on
>…Trump film is a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest.
I laughed out loud! Take my enthusiastic upvote!
Call_911 on
If I’d wanted to watch a movie about a prostitute, I would’ve gone to see “Pretty Woman” with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
SantoFelippe on
I’d rather see the Stormy Daniels story. Way way more interesting. And Stormy can put 4 words together to make a sentence.
CarolinaPanthers2015 on
Well, I just know that it’s absolute total pure trash. And everyone throughout the US and around the world just simply agrees. We’re good with seeing WAAAAAAY much more better documentaries about certain celebrities either through our local theaters OR just one of our own favorite streaming services like Peacock and Netflix.
University_Careless on
Who’s gonna tell her…. Maybe if she cast Stormy Daniels or Ivanka…
Ok-Walk-8040 on
It’s like Anora but the Russian asset she is boning became President.
gcerullo on
I feel sorry for the person who had to watch it so they could critique it.😢
grilledcheesy11 on
Doing absolutely nothing of substance, being the definition of unremarkable, and getting all this attention. What a weird time to be alive.
AltruisticCover9538 on
It is a movie about rich entitled scumbags! Nothing more, nothing less.
crone_Andre3000 on
We have enough movies about hookers who hit it rich.
16 Comments
Hi r/entertainment, this is Jake from The Guardian’s audience team. We wanted to share our review of the new Melania Trump documentary from writer Xan Brooks.
*From his story:*
My audience with [Melania](https://www.theguardian.com/film/melania) is booked for Friday lunchtime at a retail park on the outskirts of Bristol, inside a large cinema which appears to have been swept and emptied in readiness. When Brett Ratner’s contentious, Amazon-backed documentary previewed at the White House last weekend, the guestlist included Mike Tyson, Queen Rania of Jordan and the president himself. Today it’s just me in the room and Melania on the screen. It makes for a more intimate and exclusive affair.
This mood of cosy conviviality extends all the way through the opening credits; at which point the chill descends and the novocaine kicks in, as the film’s star and executive producer proceeds to guide us – with agonising glacial slowness – through the preparations for her husband’s second presidential inauguration. She glides from the fashion fitting to the table setting, and from the “candlelit dinner” to the “starlight ball”, with a face like a fist and a voice of sheet metal. “Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.
No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about Melania Knauss, the ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun, but the horrific Melania emphatically isn’t it.
It’s one of those rare, unicorn films that doesn’t have a single redeeming quality. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a documentary, exactly, so much as an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy, horribly overpriced and ice-cold to the touch and proffered like a medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.
[*You can read the full review for free here.*](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/30/melania-review-trump-film-is-a-gilded-trash-remake-of-the-zone-of-interest?referring_host=Reddit&utm_campaign=guardianacct)
>“Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.
My 9 year old happened to walk into the room the other day when the Melania trailer came on. When it was done she looked at me, confused, and asked, “Is she a witch?”
Absolute (No one in) Cinema
Breaking News: Hookers have a short shelf life.
Seriously, would you shell out money to see a documentary about any first lady? Naw, this one? Hell naw. If ICE is rounding up immigrants based on their accents, pick this one up.
“No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about Melania Knauss, the ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun”
Savage
>…Trump film is a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest.
I laughed out loud! Take my enthusiastic upvote!
If I’d wanted to watch a movie about a prostitute, I would’ve gone to see “Pretty Woman” with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
I’d rather see the Stormy Daniels story. Way way more interesting. And Stormy can put 4 words together to make a sentence.
Well, I just know that it’s absolute total pure trash. And everyone throughout the US and around the world just simply agrees. We’re good with seeing WAAAAAAY much more better documentaries about certain celebrities either through our local theaters OR just one of our own favorite streaming services like Peacock and Netflix.
Who’s gonna tell her…. Maybe if she cast Stormy Daniels or Ivanka…
It’s like Anora but the Russian asset she is boning became President.
I feel sorry for the person who had to watch it so they could critique it.😢
Doing absolutely nothing of substance, being the definition of unremarkable, and getting all this attention. What a weird time to be alive.
It is a movie about rich entitled scumbags! Nothing more, nothing less.
We have enough movies about hookers who hit it rich.