"The Most Boring Episode Of Succession" - A Melania Movie Review

By Alvin H. Green IV 

Collaborators: Brown, Brandon E and Hay, Korinne

According to an article from Benzinga, the Melania documentary reportedly cost around $75 million dollars to produce, as Amazon-MGM Studios spent $40 million to purchase the rights to the project, and the titular First Lady raked in at least another $28 million from the studio. The documentary then grossed seven million dollars domestically and $78,002 dollars internationally during its opening weekend. As of February 5, 2026, the film has still made under ten million.

In hindsight, this should have been my first warning not to watch this snail race of a film. 

Courtesy: NBC News

When Melania released to theaters with a middling response, I decided to do my journalistic duty and figure out why it flopped with the MAGA movement stronger than ever. After reading a few articles going over/ripping into Melania, I noticed most of them were more character studies of Melania herself than actual movie reviews. Many reviewers disregarded the film altogether as another piece of conservative propagandic slop, and most noticeable of all, none of the articles I read were written by people of color.

Striving to do what no black reviewer (to my present knowledge) has done before, I convinced two of my friends to sit down and witness the Melania movie alongside me, as the reviews made me scared I wouldn’t stay awake through it without company. We aimed not to judge the movie based on its message or politics, but rather focus on its plot structure, cinematography, and overall tone. 

The first notable thing about this film is that it isn't actually a documentary, even though it was presented as one to the general public and critics. In reality, it is more akin to a drawn-out press conference combined with an advertisement for Amazon and the Trump brands. In fact, the titular First Lady also does not consider her film a documentary, but rather “...a deliberate act of authorship, inviting you to visit events and emotions through a window of rich imagery,” according to a press conference.

The plot of the film, to the extent one exists, is the story of the twenty days Melania had to plan Trump’s inauguration party, dealing with the suspenseful and heart-racing hurdles of deciding a napkin lining, photoshoots, and loose blouse collars. Even though the film surely doesn’t mean to, it highlights Melania's day-to-day life as little more than pure drudgery. She tries on outfits, samples a golden egg, flies to and from Mar-A-Lago, and watches television alone. Even the events that should be interesting, like Melania meeting a former hostage and Melania presenting her feelings towards President Carter’s death, are as stale as an old box of crackers. 

One of my co-reviewers, First-Year Criminal Science major Brandon Brown, noticed an interesting visual metaphor involving a scene where Trump held a meeting with some of his staff in the White House. Melania did not get to stand next to her husband or even get a seat at the table. She was put in a chair against the wall, where she sat silently until she agreed with one of her husband’s points about his legacy.

“This is pretty much their whole dynamic, right?” Brandon commented. “Melania hasn’t done [anything] since they got into office. Trump’s tearing down the East Wing, and she's literally just been seen and not heard.” He went on to quip, “Trump’s meeting is his presidency, and this movie is that chair.”

And like a chair, this movie’s cinematography is still and boring. Although the energetic (if generic) soundtrack does attempt to pump some life into the film, the overuse of the ‘shot-reverse shot’ formula is stifling those efforts. Most of the movie's shots are of Melania’s feet as she walks through halls, Melania by herself contemplating, or Melania sitting down with someone else to do a ‘shot-reverse shot’ with an occasional wide or panning shot as a transition. Not all films require action to be interesting, but when both the documentary’s subject and cameraman feel like they gave up before the filming even started, it leaves the audience wondering why they bothered getting a ticket.

Although both the script and camerawork lack any true angle, the way the film presents itself certainly does not. The tone of the film can only be described as ‘holier-than-thou,’ as Melania seems to expect the audience to worship the very ground she walks on. We are expected to admire her every outfit, hang on her every word, and desire every item she owns. Or at least I believe we are, as the movie never gives us an in-depth look at any of these things. Even in other documentaries solely about one influential person, we as the audience are not often expected to fawn over the subject’s each and every movement ad infinitum. 

And when the film isn’t preachy, it’s wooden. The way Melania talks in her voice-overs, the way she presents herself in person, and even the way she walks around feel like the scenes were all shot on the exact same day and recorded right after one another. Everything in the film gives off this feeling of exhaustion. Everyone acts so cold and distant towards each other; it makes me question if any of the people Melania works with actually like her, or themselves, for that matter.

It should be noted that my second co-reviewer, Korinne Hay, a First-Year Journalism major, attempted to walk out of the room the second the credits began, calling the hour and forty-four minute film “The most boring episode of Succession I have ever watched.” She later went on to describe the cinematography as “...uninteresting, dull [and] actively boring…” and that the movie as a whole was “physically exhausting to sit through.”

Frankly, I am inclined to agree. The experience of watching the movie was akin to having someone brag about their achievements in a monotone voice on a stage, except you are the only person in the audience. I cannot even describe this film as a trainwreck or car crash, because at least things happen in those. I struggle to even call it a failure of a documentary or movie, as the word failure implies they actually tried, and frankly, I’m truly not sure they did. If I had to describe the film simply, I would call it the sound of high heels in a hallway; a singular, cold, and repetitive noise without any real substance that lets you know someone with money is close by.

As of now, it looks unlikely that Amazon-MGM will produce a sequel film, although they did purchase the rights to a docuseries.