Film critics raved over “Becoming,” the fawning 2020 documentary about former First Lady Michelle Obama, produced by Michelle Obama.
The Detroit News: It’s a warm latte, delivered to you in your favorite mug.
NPR: Even with its flaws, Becoming is a compelling documentary, offering a carefully revealing look at a whip smart, ferociously practical woman trying to understand how her historic time in the White House changed herself, her family and the nation.
Now, see if you can detect a slight tonal shift in reviews for “Melania,” the new documentary capturing First Lady Melania Trump, who also produced the film, as she moves back into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
Globe and Mail: Ratner has accidentally delivered the ultimate chronicle of 21st-century excess and greed, a world of casual yet immense cruelty covered in flop sweat and gold glitter.
Variety: A documentary that never comes to life. It’s a “portrait” of the First Lady of the United States, but it’s so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial.
Several reviews compared the film to Nazi propaganda. One critic gave “Melania” a “rotten” score at Rotten Tomatoes while admitting he never actually saw the film. (That review was quickly removed from the critical aggregator site)
Amazon MGM Studios.
The Guardian’s review compared the movie to 2024’s “The Zone of Interest.” That well-received drama depicted a Nazi family living next door to a concentration camp.
The reviewer didn’t stop there, mocking FLOTUS’s face and voice, a no-no in critical circles. Review the film, not the physical attributes of the people on screen. When a Variety scribe suggested actress Carey Mulligan wasn’t pretty enough to play the femme fatale in 2020’s “Promising Young Woman,” the outlet uttered an apology directly to the actress.
For some reason, that unwritten rule didn’t apply to “Melania.” Nor should FLOTUS expect an apology any time soon.
The chasm between movie critics and general audiences over “Melania” may be the new, startling benchmark. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film as having a 7% “Rotten” score from movie scribes and a 99 percent “fresh” rating from the public at large.
Those blistering critiques, delivered by a film body that leans overwhelmingly to the Left, were just part of the media’s war on “Melania.”
The said war began before “Melania” hit American theaters on January 30. Outlet after outlet preened over reports of poor pre-release ticket sales. So did Stephen Colbert of “The Late Show” fame.
Empty theaters, reporters cried, suggested “Melania” would underperform even modest expectations. It did the opposite, earning north of $7 million in its opening frame. Recent documentaries made far, far less.
- “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” – $19K to date in U.S.
- “Orwell: 2+2=5” – $355K in U.S.
For context, most documentaries are lucky to earn $1 million in theaters. “Melania,” media voices argued, might not make it to the $3 million mark. And, with a gaudy $40 million price tag courtesy of Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, that’s a debacle.
Except “Melania” delivered the biggest documentary debut in a decade. The film has kept earning since then.
Amazon MGM Studios.
USA Today argued it’s “patriotic” to slam “Melania.”
To be the subject of a documentary, one would think you’d have to accomplish something beyond being a complicit grifter in two of the most cruel, dishonest, and dangerous presidential terms in American history.
Indiewire said the film’s box office success is terrible news for the documentary genre. Suddenly, a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats.
It’s a scary time for documentarians. Will they have to start working with the likes of Brett Ratner to make infomercials that please Donald Trump to pay the bills? The success of “Melania” suggests they might.
Meanwhile, a news media landscape that routinely decries review bombing – the practice of slagging a film or TV show sight unseen due to a variety of pre-release complaints, like overt wokeness – suddenly cheered on review bombing of “Melania.”
NPR needed something negative to share about the film. So it dug into the demographic breakdown of movie patrons and determined a large number of older white women lined up to see “Melania.”
How often do media outlets report on the demographics of a given film? Hint: Not very often. NPR likely sought to portray the film’s fan base as overwhelmingly white (with a touch of supremacy?)
A few outlets have thrown all credibility to the wind to savage “Melania.” The far-Left Daily Beast took the crown here. The site has repeatedly called the film a “flop,” although it’s on pace to pass 2024’s “Am I Racist?” as the most successful documentary of the last decade.
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“Melania” expands its release pattern in its second weekend, upping the theatrical count to 2,000 screens. Even if the film underperforms from here, the theatrical release has done its job.
Amazon likely viewed the film all along as a Prime Video draw, first and foremost. The documentary will draw attention and eyeballs to the streaming service, giving it a competitive title in a cutthroat streaming landscape. The film’s theatrical bow is an extended promotion for its final, digital destination.
Why all the unprofessional hate? The First Lady may have said it best at the premiere of her own movie.
“Superior storytelling drives culture and in turn moves markets.”
Legacy Media outlets fear a conservative encroachment on their turf most of all.
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Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at HollywoodInToto.com.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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