Melania Trump’s vanity documentary is getting torn to shreds by online movie reviewers.
Across the popular Letterboxd platform, users have been posting brutal reviews of Melania, the Amazon-MGM-produced documentary, writing messages about the film that they haven’t yet seen—and don’t intend to.
“I haven’t watched this obviously, I just want it to have the lowest rating on all of Letterboxd. Do your part. F--- Melania and, of course, f--- Trump,” wrote one user.
“Wont watch wont even pirate. Just making sure it’s the lowest rated movie of all time,” another wrote.
Letterboxd, a popular social film site, allows users to publicly rate, review, and list movies. As of 2024, the platform has over 17 million users. So far, there are over 100 reviews of Melania, which premieres worldwide on Friday, Jan. 30. It currently sits at 2.5 stars (out of 5).
Melania was first privately screened for a select audience of 70 guests on Saturday: the same night that federal agents shot 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
The film was helmed by Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual assault by multiple women in 2017. Ratner, who effectively stepped away from Hollywood before directing Melania, denied all charges. He was recently spotted in the Epstein files.
In addition to these sobering facts, the first lady’s documentary was purchased by Jeff Bezos’s Amazon for a reported $40 million. The billionaire’s company spent another $35 million promoting it.
Suffice to say, Letterboxd users have ammunition for their initial reviews of Melania.
“Sex pest Brett Ratner resurrected by the state so he can make propaganda fluff about the dictator’s wife,” one reviewer wrote. Several users wrote messages along the lines of, “Abolish ICE,” and “Release the Epstein files.”
“f--- ice and f--- trump and his administration,” another review reads.
Mother Jones first reported a tide of negative Letterboxd reviews for the film, but also found that all the reviews had disappeared from the platform on Jan. 27. Letterboxd told the publication that the vanished reviews were a consequence of “an automatic update, caused by a previously incorrect premiere date.”
As of Jan. 28, the Letterboxd page for Melania is live once more. The documentary already appears in over 330 “lists,” or categories that Letterboxd users can filter films within. People have entered the film into categories like “Tomorrow’s Trash,” “Trump Era Cinema,” “Movie blacklist,” and “Flopbusters.”
Letterboxd’s Terms of Service technically prohibit people from participating in “orchestrated attacks against films or filmmakers.” The Daily Beast has reached out to the platform for comment.
CNN’s data expert Harry Enten predicts that Melania will see dire ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, too. Enten said on Tuesday that the first lady has a 63 percent chance of getting a rating of below 20 percent on the movie ratings platform.
Melania will reportedly be released in 2,000 theaters across the US, and in another 3,000 worldwide. In the UK, 100 theaters are offering tickets for the film, but sales have been declared “soft” so far, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, the president used Truth Social to promote his wife’s film and claimed tickets are “Selling out, FAST!”
According to the documentary’s official description, the film follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration. Audiences are being given “unprecedented access,” the Letterboxd blurb reads, as “Mrs. Trump returns to one of the world’s most powerful roles.”
Melania is receiving a splashy premiere at the rebranded Trump-Kennedy Center on Thursday, Jan. 29. Following its theatrical release on Friday, the film will stream on Amazon Prime.
