A British newspaper has issued a correction to its review of Melania, the $75 million Amazon documentary about first lady Melania Trump, clarifying that the film’s score was even worse than readers were first led to believe.
The Guardian initially reported awarding the film one star out of five, already a brutal assessment by the outlet’s standards. But, the correction made clear the rating placed Melania among the lowest-scoring films in the paper’s history, a distinction shared by only 18 other titles.
The clarification quietly transformed Melania’s bad review into something rarer — a near-historic rebuke, with a rating of zero.
A correction for the ages (from The Guardian’s review of ‘Melania’): pic.twitter.com/mFaV2wOEhM
— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) February 3, 2026
The original article, published days before the correction, described the documentary as a glossy vanity project that offered little insight into the first lady beyond carefully staged scenes and prolonged silences. The reviewer was brutal, scathingly describing the experience as endurance rather than engagement, writing that two hours with the film felt “like pure, endless hell.”
The Guardian’s correction did not soften that verdict. If anything, it sharpened it.
Melania documents the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s January 2025 return to the White House. The film tries to portray an intimate portrait of the first lady balancing family, power, and public life. Directed by Brett Ratner, making his return to feature filmmaking after years away following sexual misconduct allegations he has denied. Apparently, the film was produced with unusual scale and access.
Movie review from Guardian on Melania. https://t.co/zVUTDsyHs6 pic.twitter.com/FNAlgRp24W
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 30, 2026
Reviews across major outlets have been overwhelmingly negative, with many describing the documentary as inert, propagandistic, or unintentionally comedic. The Hollywood Reporter called it “lavish fawning,” while The Atlantic labeled it “a protection racket.” Variety described it as ritualistic and airless, stitched together from reality TV outtakes without tension or substance.
The Guardian’s corrected score places Melania alongside a short list of films it has deemed almost irredeemable — a category the paper reserves for works it views as both artistically hollow and culturally troubling.
Best review ever. On the Netflix Melania “documentary”:
“If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out.” -Variety pic.twitter.com/bo0ToJbfN0
— Real Rob Rosenthal (@ShortOrderDad) January 27, 2026
Despite the shady reviews, the film has drawn attention for reasons beyond its reviews. The documentary premiered at the Kennedy Center — recently rebranded by the Trump administration — and rolled out internationally across more than two dozen countries. Box office returns are being watched closely, not for artistic success but as a measure of how people are responding to the audience’s political appetite.
Audience reactions have been mixed, even among sympathetic viewers. Some self-identified Trump supporters interviewed after screenings described the film as overly polished and oddly distant, calling it more of a public relations exercise than a personal story.
Leftists Said ‘Melania’ Film Would Bomb — Box Office Makes It the Top Documentary in Over a Decade!
The Hollywood Reporter: “Propaganda Doc”
The Atlantic: “A disgrace.”
The media is our enemy.
That would give “Melania” the best start for a documentary in 14 years. NYT… pic.twitter.com/KBYYztevXx
— .*Funkytown™*. (@01Funkytown) February 1, 2026
The Guardian’s correction underscored a broader reality facing the film. There seems to be a widely-held opinion that the film’s biggest failure has not been about political bias so much as absence. Reviewers repeatedly noted how little the documentary reveals — about Melania Trump, her marriage, or her role — despite its length, budget, and access to her life.
In its own way, the correction became the most revealing moment of all. A one-star review is harsh. Clarifying that it belongs among the worst the paper has ever given is something else entirely.
And in the crowded, noisy afterlife of Trump-era media, Melania now holds a rare distinction — not for what it showed, but for how decisively critics agreed on what it did not.
