Melania review - Guardian. "Trump film is a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest" One Star.

[NewHendoLib]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/30/melania-review-trump-film-is-a-gilded-trash-remake-of-the-zone-of-interest

snip

This mood of cosy conviviality extends all the way through the opening credits; at which point the chill descends and the novocaine kicks in, as the film’s star and executive producer proceeds to guide us – with agonising glacial slowness – through the preparations for her husband’s second presidential inauguration. She glides from the fashion fitting to the table setting, and from the “candlelit dinner” to the “starlight ball”, with a face like a fist and a voice of sheet metal. “Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.

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And so it goes on. Melania moves through the action like a listless automaton, talking constantly but saying nothing, squired from Mar-a-Lago to Trump Tower to her final destination, the White House. What drama there is chiefly hinges on her concern that her white blouse is too loose at the neck and needs to be cut and then tightened, much to the consternation of the fitters. Melania misses her mother, she says, but she loves Michael Jackson and Barron and possibly her husband as well, although Trump himself is mostly a background presence here, shuffling in at intervals to brag about his election win and complain that his inauguration clashes with the televised college football playoffs. “They probably did it on purpose,” he says.

It’s dispiriting, it’s deadly and it’s spectacularly unrevealing. 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. “White and gold – that’s so you,” purrs one of her lickspittles as she busies herself with the colour-scheme for the ball and the incoming first lady allows that yes indeed, this is true.

It’s no spoiler to reveal that phew, thank heavens, Trump’s second inauguration goes swimmingly well in the end. This despite the unfortunate clash with the college football game. This despite the infuriating looseness of the first lady’s white blouse. The preparations are exhausting but the euphoria of the moment sees her through, all the way to the starlight ball where she briefly boogies along to the Village People’s YMCA. “Being awake for 22-hours felt like nothing,” she gushes, which is nice to hear and good for her. But the fun’s not infectious and the guests are a nightmare, and two hours of Melania feels like pure, endless hell.

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sounds swell, doesn't it!

[fierywoman]

1. Of all performance reviews, I do love British snarky bad reviews THE MOST !!!

[Cha]

2. The best review Ever! I knew it would

be good.. it's The Guardian.. and this is Spectacularly Awesome!

Snaps to those who had to sit through to report back

TY, NHL!

[Cha]

3. Kick because it's So Scathingly Awesome!