A Gilded Trash Remake of ‘The Zone of Interest’

Melania, the documentary (or “bribe,” as both Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel have called it) has been getting the kind of reviews one would expect from a Brett Ratner-directed documentary about the current First Lady. As of this writing, Melania sits at 8% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter said, “To say that Melania is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.” Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman said, “It feels like it’s been stitched together out of the most innocuous outtakes from a reality show. There’s no drama to it. It should have been called Day of the Living Tradwife.“

The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks gave the movie 1 star, comparing Melania‘s and its subject to the Nazi family in The Zone of Interest, the Academy Award-nominated film that contrasted the family’s mundane existence to the suffering happening in the concentration camp they lived next door to. Brooks said:

“Ratner’s film plays like a gilded trash remake of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest in which a button-eyed Cinderella points at gold baubles and designer dresses, cunningly distracting us while her husband and his cronies prepare to dismantle the Constitution and asset-strip the federal government … the fun’s not infectious and the guests are a nightmare, and two hours of Melania feels like pure, endless hell.”

Sophie Gilbert from The Atlantic said:

“Melania the movie isn’t a documentary; it’s a protection racket. It’s a reminder that the richest people in the world are investing in entertainment brands not because they care about art but because the public does, and because all of these vanity projects and capitulations are a way to consolidate their own power and fortune.”

The Controversy Around ‘Melania’

Melania and Donald Trump in an interview with Barbara Walters

ABC

Melania did not screen critics. The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Vanity Fair, and dozens of other media outlets were not invited to the screening following the red-carpet premiere in New York City. The only members of the press invited to screen the movie were Dan Ball, anchor for the far-right One America News, and his wife, Peyton Drew, a producer for the channel.

Since Melania was announced, it has been mired in controversy. Amazon acquired the rights to the documentary in a bidding war between Disney, Amazon, Netflix, and Paramount. Amazon’s $40 million bid is the highest price ever paid for a documentary, one of many reasons the film has been called a “bribe” by Amazon CEO to cozy up to the Trump administration. The acquisitions of propaganda certainly don’t let up, given that Melania Trump was given full creative control of the project. Melania is also the first feature film from director Brett Ratner since the director was accused of sexual harassment and assault by six women in 2017. Ratner’s close friendship with Melania and Donald Trump has helped get the long-in-development Rush Hour 4 off the ground at Paramount Skydance, which is run by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, one of Trump’s biggest supporters.

Despite Amazon MGM not giving many of their films theatrical releases, they have given Melania a theatrical wide release. However, the film’s chosen release date of Jan. 30, 2026, looks worse for the film considering the nationwide “ICE Out” general strikes and protests across the United States following the deaths of eight individuals by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers since the start of the year. In addition, on the day of the film’s release, the Trump administration arrested former CNN reporter Don Lemon and three others in a move many are calling an attack on the First Amendment. Releasing what appears to be a puff piece about the First Lady the same day reporters are being arrested, and mass protests and strikes across the United States are underway, would feel on the nose for a movie, but it is sadly the reality of the situation now.