First lady Melania Trump‘s new documentary, “Melania,” was panned by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, receiving a 11% approval rating — as of Sunday — despite scoring 99% with the site’s “verified audience.”
The first lady hosted the debut of her new film on Thursday, which provides an up-close look at her life across 20 days before the inauguration of the 47th president as she and President Donald Trump prepared to return to the White House.
Despite receiving high praise from verified viewers, “Melania” was ripped by critics who were unimpressed by the film, with some arguing it was produced as “propaganda” for the Trump administration.
“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,” wrote Screen-Space’s Simon Foster.
Adam Olinger, host of the popular film review YouTube channel “Adam Does Movies,” said he’d “rather rewatch January 6th.”
On the other side of the argument, the reviews from Rotten Tomatoes’ “verified audience” praised the film for its portrayal of America and Trump’s inauguration from the first lady’s perspective.
“A wonderful look into the life of the United States First Lady. Absolutely fascinating, perfect music choices for every scene. The USA is definitely represented most eloquently through Melania Trump. All scenes with Barron Trump are delightful. Highly recommend this movie,” wrote one viewer.
“An absolutely delightful peek behind the scenes of the days before, during and after the inauguration. So many special moments captured and [I’m] so grateful Melania decided to share them with the American people,” wrote another user.
Popular pop culture X account “DiscussingFilm” posted the documentary’s Rotten Tomatoes scores, highlighting the film’s low critic rating.
Users were quick to point out that despite the post’s focus on critics’ unfavorable reviews, “Melania” had scored a knock-out 99% among verified users.
Leigh Wolf, executive producer of the “Ruthless Podcast,” commented below the post, slamming the critics as “a bunch of salty libs trying to ingratiate themselves to their equally unimpressive lefty friends.”
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“But it has 99% audience score?” another X user wrote. “I wasn’t going to watch it, but now maybe I will!”
At Thursday’s premiere, several VIPs who walked the red carpet praised the first lady and hoped the documentary would show the public the side of her that they see.
“I hope they get to see what I see,” U.S. Attorney Alina Habba told Fox News Digital. “She is incredibly astute. She is incredibly involved. She does everything with grace. She has taken the punches right next to him and always held herself out with such grace. And I’m happy that for a woman who’s a girl boss, who’s literally a legend, and should have been on the cover of Vogue, she’s going to have her time to shine.”
“I consider her a good friend,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. “She is the kindest, smartest, most wonderful friend, obviously very private, and just does it her way. So I think we get to see a little bit of that in the movie tonight. She’s just such a breath of fresh air because she literally, almost like President Trump, and this is why they’re such a good match. She’s just going to do it her way.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Melania” is on track to open to a better-than-expected $8 million or more at the North American box office as of early Friday.
Fox News Digital’s Cortney O’Brien and Nikos Degruccio contributed to this report.
