Melania (2026)
Directed by: Brett Ratner
Premise: A documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, focusing on the two weeks leading up to the 2025 inauguration.
What Works: Melania is not so much a biography as it is an impression of the First Lady. It’s a puff piece about a subject who is unwilling to be vulnerable or reveal any depth. (Melania Trump is credited as a producer.) Since the documentarians are limited to the surface, they make that surface as polished and cinematic as they can. The filmmaking expresses Melania Trump’s style. Melania is handsomely produced and cinematographers Jeff Cronenweth, Barry Peterson, and Dante Spinotti coordinate the camera movement with the talent. Not much actually happens but there is a lot of movement with Melania Trump constantly in transit. The footage is elegantly edited together by Alex Márquez. This documentary has value in ways its makers may not have intended; the last third of Melania documents the inauguration ceremonies and in particular the candlelight dinner in which President Trump and the First Lady are seated with Elon Musk, Miriam Adelson, Jeff Bezos, and other elites. This imagery captures the truth of our historical moment.
What Doesn’t: There is almost nothing to be gained from watching Melania. The documentary is so finely produced that anything real or organic is scrubbed away. The soundtrack includes a lot of bizarre musical choices with needle drops that are incongruent with what’s happening on screen. This film is without any compelling interest or idea. In most storytelling, whether it’s fiction or documentary, we learn the measure of a person’s character from their desires and fears and how they relate to other people. As depicted in this documentary, Melania Trump has none of those qualities. She’s strangely isolated. Nothing is revealed about her relationship to her family or Melania Trump’s manner as a wife and a mother. The filmmakers are determined to argue that Melania Trump’s tenure as First Lady is somehow groundbreaking. There is no substantive evidence of anything. Melania Trump’s narration consists of milquetoast, corporate-approved statements. The film and Melania herself come across much more interested in fashion and style than politics, which has historically been the case for First Ladies. Melania Trump is supposedly in charge of the inauguration planning but all she does is approve other people’s work. She speaks of realizing an artistic vision but it’s not clear what that vision actually is. There’s no drama or conflict. There’s not even any interesting details about the event planning. The film is a flat viewing experience that drags on without illuminating anything.
Bottom Line: Melania is a tedious documentary that plays as an expensive home movie. It’s problems are not political because there’s nothing here. This documentary is bland and boring and reveals nothing.
Episode: #1086 (February 8, 2026)