Movie Review: Melania (2026)

Melania is a 2026 American film by Brett Ratner that follows Melania Trump (nee Knauss) in the 20 days before Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration, released in the US by Amazon MGM Studios on January 30, 2026.

Main Cast 
Melania Trump – as herself
President Donald Trump – as himself
Hervé Pierre – as himself (Designer)

Synopsis

Melania chronicles the personal experiences of Melania Trump in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025. Opening with a voiceover in which she says the film aims “to show the American people my life” and her “journey from private citizen to first lady,” it follows her meetings with fashion designer Hervé Pierre and an interior decorator, attendance at Jimmy Carter’s state funeral, and a visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to honor her late mother. The film also depicts her video call with French First Lady Brigitte Macron, meetings with Queen Rania of Jordan and former Gaza war hostage Aviva Siegel and planning the inauguration at Mar-a-Lago with her husband. A family dinner with Trump 2024 campaign donors, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, precedes the inauguration day, shown from Melania’s viewpoint, ending with her voiceover as the newly inaugurated First Lady.

My Take: Of ironies and popcorn storyline that fails to hit the mark

What is remarkable about the film is its display of excess. Each of the items I see – from the tiniest vase to the more intricate lamps or luxury couches – could have fed, housed, or clothed hundreds of thousands of people.

Without implying that the costs come from taxpayers’ money, because I read that there are certain things that the President and their family have to pay for out of their own pockets, including designer clothes and (some) home interior designs (Read: Reader’s Digest 12 Things US Presidents have to pay for on their own), the exorbitant luxury (at least in the eye of average income class like me) still leaves a bad taste, considering that there are countless homeless and hungry children – an issue that Melania herself advocates addressing. My second impression is that the movie is a Trump advertisement in movie format. There is no plot worthy of sitting through for even an hour.

The achievements of Melania are not highlighted in the movie, which should have been interesting. Instead, her achievements are shown contextually in the epilogue, which might have been missed by moviegoers who decide not to finish the film to the end.

I feel that the movie, ending with Donald Trump’s victory, does not show Melania’s influence or power. Rather, it shows her as a shadow force, perhaps without significance to President Trump’s win. Or at least, the movie does not make it clear.

The movie could have focused on Melania’s role in reuniting lost Ukrainian children with their parents because of her writing a “Peace Letter” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which, according to news reports, was personally delivered by President Trump on 15 August last year. The movie states that the letter was instrumental in “helping reunite children with their families displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war.” The story could have given weight to her gift of words – that her writing or her words are her power – being that her Mars is in Gemini (being born 26 April 1970), which could be her strong suit and should have been exploited, rather than focusing on her rigid attention to detail, such as when she requests her clothes to be redone because they do not provide the correct silhouette, height, or width.

The focus on her being a designer, or on her taste that she learned partly from her mother, does not give justice to why one should watch the movie. I think the movie tries to portray Melania as the archetypal woman behind her husband’s success, which is implied when, after the inauguration, the Trump couple walk back to the Blair House with the song “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (James Brown, 1966) scored in the scene.

Equally cringey are the clothes she wore at the inauguration – the white gown with a zigzag of black sash on the front – which looks like thick electric tape carelessly adhered to the fabric [ also, black ribbons or sashes are used in funerals. I wish someone thought of it before giving her that design?]; and also, the suit (which she paired with a hat), which made her look like a royal nanny. TL; DR: those designs did not do her justice.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of things I would like to point out that somehow show the more personal and lighter side of Melania.

Judging from the soundtrack – Michael Jackson songs and Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” instrumental – Melania, like many Gen X’ers, is an avid 80s music fan. She replied that she particularly likes Michael Jackson when asked who her favorite singer is. She even sings her favorite Jackson song, “Billie Jean,” in her car en route to Mar-a-Lago, showing that candid, fangirling side of her.

Her warmth when meeting with Aviva Siegel, a hostage survivor (Read: AP’s A former hostage fought for her own life in Gaza), I felt that to be honest. The scene captures her empathy.

However, that scene also shows irony. while Melania, offscreen, describes Siegel as having endured torture as a captive of Hamas, Siegel is then “subjected” to security screening upon her entrance to the White House to meet Melania. I understand that there are strict security protocols. Still, the scene is ironic. Is Siegel not a guest who should have been treated as such, not someone who cannot be trusted?

Nevertheless, the parts where she meets with France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron online and Queen Rania of Jordan to underscore “(My goal is) to establish a coalition with other world leaders to help children” fail to give her character the strength and a “force-to-be-reckoned-with” aura that should have been depicted from the get-go.

The movie should have stressed that massive potential in her to make a societal mark, because that is where she is good, with Melania’s astrological Sun in Taurus in the 10th House.

I like Melania – visually speaking. She must be a really warm person, judging from news articles written about her. There is also that sense of humility in her. More importantly, she values her Faith.

I give it to the director, Brett Ratner, and writers for being able to stretch the movie to an hour and 40-plus minutes, even if the storyline is scattered thin, if not empty. Peppering the movie with tidbits of historical (arte)facts – like shots of the portraits of previous First Ladies, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower to Jackie Kennedy (as an allusion to Melania’s elegant flair); or showing the Blair House and mentioning its significance as the state guest house where presidents-elect traditionally stay before the inauguration – does not give a glimmer of hope that the movie is worth the hype.

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