Melania (2026)
Money doesn’t buy class, but it doesn’t preclude it, either. Melania covers Trump’s second inauguration and Melania’s experiences in the twenty days leading up to that day, giving us a glimpse into the life of a woman who not only radiates class, but who has a real sense of purpose.
Now, some people may take issue with Melania Trump making a documentary, and the vast majority of the critics have rated the film based on their personal politics only, but the way I look at it is this: Michelle Obama has a podcast, a Netflix deal, an autobiography and a coffee table book of her wardrobe. The coffee table book, by the way, has a reading guide, as if us unwashed types are too stupid to know what a dress is. Jill Biden, who is a notoriously hideous dresser and shameless panderer (“Si, say pwadway!”), has made the cover of Vogue.
And let’s be honest: If Hillary Clinton made a documentary, the press would fall all over themselves fawning and bowing and scraping. Why shouldn’t Melania Trump, who has been unfairly treated by the media, make a documentary about going from being a private citizen to First Lady for the second time? Heaven forbid she speak for herself.
Here’s another thing: The people who virtue-signal about Melania posing nude in her younger days oftentimes think nothing of supporting those who push drag culture on little children. Yep. Same people. I don’t have the time or the crayons to explain how hypocritical this is. Melania wasn’t a call girl or a pole dancer or a stripper or a porn star, either. In fact, she finds such allegations offensive and has won lawsuits against news outlets that push that narrative.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about Melania.
The film opens in a decidedly girl boss way. Melania is in a limo grooving to “Billie Jean,” and then we reach Trump Tower, where the famous gold doors close with a well-timed wham, and just like that, we’re in.
Here’s what not to expect from the film: There aren’t going to be a lot of juicy stories about the Trump family or about Melania’s background, although she talks about her parents. Melania is not a puff piece like some films we can mention. In fact, Melania barely talks about herself at all, preferring instead to talk about her work with foster kids and about what America means to her and why it’s special.
We even see her meet with Aviva Siegel, who was taken hostage by Hamas and whose husband, Keith, was still in captivity until after the Inauguration, when Melania herself helped negotiate his release.
They say that there’s no one more grateful to eat than one who knows what it’s like to starve, and that’s definitely reflected in the way Melania talks about the United States. She’s seen the difference between America and other countries firsthand, especially countries that were behind the Iron Curtain, and she appreciates America’s history and culture. We go, for instance, with the Trumps to Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the former of which Melania calls “the soul of the nation.”
The bulk of the film, again, centers around getting ready for the inauguration, and how a First Lady comports herself is extremely important. As Melania has a background in modeling, she knows clothes very well and things the rest of us probably wouldn’t think about, like the slope of a shoulder or the width of a hatband, are something to be tweaked. Designers love working with Melania Trump because her taste is flawless and she speaks their language.
In all honesty, Melania’s got a lot in common with Jackie Kennedy except that Kennedy never modeled. The dinners that the Trumps hosted at the inauguration are presented in a gorgeous fashion, right down to the golden eggs with caviar. Melania rocks five-inch heels for hours in a day and makes it look easy, although she says Inauguration Day means “more time in heels.”
Above all, everything fits immaculately, and this is never more evident than when the Trumps stand next to the Bidens on the big day. Joe and Jill look frazzled and ill-fitting next to Melania’s crisply tailored navy coatdress and hat. When the Bidens and Kamala Harris come around for Trump’s inauguration speech, they look incensed.
Melania’s tight presentation seems to communicate her resolve. Security was and is, of course, a huge concern, and the Trumps have had an especially bad time in recent years. It’s not just the fact that there have been two assassination attempts on Trump and attempts to imprison him (Don’t get me started on that). Melania mentions in one scene that son Barron doesn’t like getting out of cars in public because of what’s been done to his father.
Barron, who seems like a sweet guy, is nobody’s fool.
All of this seems to have brought Melania’s mama bear to the forefront, which is why when I saw her on Inauguration Day looking extremely smart but with her eyes covered by her hat, my first thought was “Oh. She’s pissed off.”
That’s not to say that Melania’s not having fun. It’s weirdly surreal to see the Biden’s couch coming down the stairs at the White House while movers were taking the Trump’s furniture back upstairs. And at the Starlight Ball, Melania comes in dancing to the Village People.
Melania looks pristine and is done in a straightforward fashion. Director Brett Ratner is probably the least pushy documentarian I’ve seen in a long time, and there are times Melania has to gesture to him to follow.
The only part that feels a little strange is that sometimes the film will briefly shift from HD to a grainy Zapruder-ish feel. I don’t know why this was done, and it certainly doesn’t add much except an unspoken hint at vulnerability, but after the last few years we don’t need to be told how precarious the Trumps’ lives have been.
Above all, there’s a refreshing feeling that class and strength have returned to the White House. No matter what anyone’s political beliefs are, these are qualities we have missed for far too long, and audiences are making their opinions felt, the haters notwithstanding. Melania has the largest gap between the critics’ and audience score in Rotten Tomatoes history for a reason.
In my case, and in many others across the United States, I saw the movie in a packed house of mostly older women, including my mother. We breezed through the film with the comfortable, bracing knowledge that we weren’t being talked down to, that we knew where we stood, and that being an American citizen is not a mark of shame. The applause at the end of the film was real and it was spectacular, as was the cameraderie. We came as strangers and left talking about what we had just seen.
There’s a new sheriff in town, and her name is Melania Trump.
Melania is currently in theaters. Rated PG.
My grade: A-
Principal Cast: Melania Trump, Herve Pierre, Adam Lippes, Peter Sohn, Aiko Mizutori, David Monn, Tham Kannalikham, Yaqi Sun, Hayley Harrison, Casey Nalls, Gabrielle Daymond, Alexandra Veletsis, Donald Trump, Viktor Knavs, Joseph P. LaMorte, Enrique Salvo, Brigitte Macron, Aviva Siegel
Directed by Brett Ratner.