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\n\tThe first notices are rolling in for Amazon\u2019s controversial, big-budget Melania Trump documentary, Melania<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tDescribed as \u201can intimate chronicle which a rare glimpse into the life of Melania Trump, exploring her role as First Lady and her relationship with the President,\u201d the film marks the comeback of filmmaker Brett Ratner, who has been a pariah in Hollywood following multiple accusations of sexual harassment, which he has denied.<\/p>\n \n\tCritics, who weren\u2019t invited to preview screenings or the premiere, are now catching up with the movie and it\u2019s as bad as many predicted. Many of the first reviews are coming out of the UK and Australia given the time zone differences.<\/p>\n \n\tThe UK\u2019s Independent gives the film one star out of five, saying: \u201c[The] First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda\u2026Hitting cinemas as the streets of America remain filled with the angry and grieving \u2013 with the country on the verge of an irreparable schism \u2013 the vulgar, gilded lifestyle of the Trumps makes them look like Marie Antoinette skulking in her cake-filled chateau, or Hermann G\u00f6ring\u2019s staring up at his looted Monet.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe publication continued: \u201cThe \u201cfilm\u201d is part propaganda, sure, and part sop to Big Tech companies who require constant regulatory approval for financial manoeuvrings. Even then, it is bad. It will exist as a striking artefact \u2013 like\u00a0The Birth of a Nation\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Triumph of the Will<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 of a time when Americans willingly subordinated themselves to a political and economic oligopoly.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Guardian, whose critic said he had the cinema all to himself at his screening this morning, also gave the film one star, calling it \u201cDispiriting, deadly and unrevealing \u2013 there is a decent documentary to be made about the former model from Slovenia, but this one is unredeemable\u2026I\u2019m not even sure it qualifies as a documentary, exactly, so much as an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy, horribly overpriced and ice-cold to the touch and proffered like a medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Express\u2019 critic, one of seven people in the cinema he attended, gave the film 2\/5 stars, calling it \u201ca painfully sincere Trump puff piece, all style and no substance\u201d: \u201cMany scenes bore, as Melania \u2013 who narrates throughout at a monotone pitch \u2013 spends too much time in service lifts with sycophants and in painfully stiff, orchestrated scenes discussing her all-important work\u2026.Of course, President Donald Trump himself features prominently in scenes that just about begin to humanise his wife, with her backstage YMCA dancing and suggestions for altering his inauguration speech. However, her singing Michael Jackson in the back of a limo is pretty awkward amid a totally humourless and extremely sincere documentary that takes itself far too seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLondon\u2019s Evening Standard had kinder reflections in its 3\/5 star review: \u201cIs the film worth $40 million? I can\u2019t see it myself, except for the shot of Kamala Harris at the inauguration, which is worth the entrance ticket, but if Jeff Bezos and his millions are that easily parted, good luck to her. The greatest relief in the whole thing came when she actually took her heels off, after three balls, and, as she says, 22 hours without sleep.\u00a0She\u2019s a phenomenon.\u00a0What, exactly, is her relationship with Trump, who was effusive about, \u201cmy beautiful wife\u201d? We don\u2019t know. The enigma remains.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAustralian outlet The Sydney Morning Herald gave the film two and half stars, calling it \u201cbeautifully shot but short on substance.\u201d Subscribe to read more of that one. The Atlantic, another subscriber only joint, made its stance clear with the headline \u201cThe Melania Trump Documentary Is a Disgrace: The exorbitant film captures the rotten state of the entertainment industry.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAustralian substack Screen Space also gave the film one star: \u201cWatching Melania get fitted for expensive clothes in gaudy rooms, or talk up how extravagantly staged she demands her balls be \u2013 and both happen\u00a0a lot<\/em>\u00a0in Brett Ratner\u2019s unrelentingly boring feature doc debut \u2013 only strengthen perceptions of her as a chilly, lifeless socialite wannabe\u2026Melania<\/em> is not the story of the First Lady of American politics, but the imagining of the first homeland monarch in U.S. history. This is not a film concerned at all with the America of today; it is propaganda that serves the formation of a future non-democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWe\u2019ll update this page as we get the first stateside reviews in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n