‘Melania’ Review + Rotten Tomatoes Verified Audience Score Thread

I will continue to update this post as the score changes.

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: Hot

Audience Says: N/A

Verified Audience Score History:

• 99% (4.9/5) at 100+

Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten

Critics Consensus: N/A

Metacritic: 4 (11 Reviews)

Sample Reviews:

Karl Quinn, The Age (Australia) 2.5/5 – …it’s impossible not to feel that the real purpose of this portrait is not insight, but rather distraction from the awfulness and corruption of her husband’s regime.

Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence F – Look, Leni Riefenstahl was a terrible person, but at least she had some style. Accused sex pest/confirmed hack Brett Ratner, meanwhile, captures the proceedings with all the flair of an HGTV show.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter – To say that Melania is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies. This is a film that fawns so lavishly over its subject that you feel downright unpatriotic not gushing over it.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety – A documentary that never comes to life. It’s a “portrait” of the First Lady of the United States, but it’s so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial.

Xan Brooks, Guardian 1/5 – The fun’s not infectious and the guests are a nightmare, and two hours of Melania feels like pure, endless hell.

Nick Hilton, Independent (UK) 1/5 – To call "Melania" vapid would do a disservice to the plumes of florid vape smoke that linger around British teenagers.

Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic – Ratner seems desperate to find action, but there is none. The pace is stultifying.

Melanie McDonagh, London Evening Standard 4/5 – If you take this film for what it is, Melania’s own, curated take on herself, then there’s one thing she wants to get across, it’s that there’s human warmth there under the cheekbones and the slanting feline eyes.

Keith Uhlich, (All (Parentheses)) (Substack) – Brett Ratner’s reinvention as idjit Leni Riefenstahl gets me all a-titter, with heartier guffaws if I imagine him on-set looking like semi-doppelgänger Jonah Hill in the "Married Your Cousin" scene from The Wolf of Wall Street.

SYNOPSIS:

Amazon MGM Studios' film MELANIA offers unprecedented access to the 20 days leading up to the 2025 Presidential Inauguration — through the eyes of the First Lady herself. Step inside Melania Trump's world as she orchestrates inauguration plans, navigates the complexities of the White House transition, and moves her family back to the Nation’s Capital. With exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments, MELANIA showcases Mrs. Trump’s return to one of the world’s most powerful roles.

CAST:

• Melania Trump as Herself

DIRECTED BY: Brett Ratner

PRODUCED BY: Brett Ratner, Fernando Sulichin, Marc Beckman, Melania Trump

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Barry Peterson, Dante Spinotti, Jeff Cronenweth

EDITED BY: Alex Márquez

MUSIC BY: Tony Neiman

RUNTIME: 104 Minutes

RELEASE DATE: January 30, 2026