If you don't know much about Melania Trump heading into "Melania," the high-gloss, low-substance vanity project/documentary about America's first lady currently playing in theaters, you won't know much more about her coming out of it.

The paper-thin project covers the former model's story with all the depth of an elementary school book report. She cares deeply about fashion and says she wants to do right by America's children, and in "Melania's" telling, there's not much more to it than that.

Access is key, and filmmaker Brett Ratner and his team don't seem to have a whole lot of it. The documentary runs under two hours and seems to be culled from about three total hours of amassed footage.

How else to explain the seemingly endless preparations of her inauguration dress, or the multitude of scenes of her and Donald Trump walking down hallways? It feels like "Melania" is padded with material not because of the insight it provides into its subject but to help it land at a respectable runtime.

"Melania" covers the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump's second inauguration as commander in chief, in January 2025. The drama of the 2024 election is behind them and behind the movie; the focus here is on what to wear, and how to ensure the hemlines on her dress are at their most optimal.

"My creative vision is always clear," Mrs. Trump tells us in voice-over, one of many such innocuous sound-bites sprinkled throughout the film that are said but aren't really explained or expounded upon. Is her creative vision always clear? Follow up: What exactly is Melania Trump's "creative vision?"

The drama of the film, aside from prepping for inauguration day and getting ready to move back into the White House, concerns Melania reconciling with the one-year anniversary of her mother's death. We see her as she visits a church in New York City that her mother liked to go to when she was in town and she lights a candle in her honor while Aretha Franklin's "Amazing Grace" plays over the soundtrack.

But we don't learn anything about Melania's background — she was born Melanija Knavs in the former Yugoslavia, not that the film mentions it — or about how she met her husband, or what life was like for her prior to the spotlight. We do learn her favorite musical artist is Michael Jackson, and we see her sort of singing along to "Billie Jean," which she says is her favorite Michael Jackson song. "It's hard to pick because there are so many good ones," she says, only also mentioning "Thriller."

That is one of the looser moments of a film that is severely lacking in any sense of warmth, spontaneity or personality. It is a cold, buttoned-up, heavily controlled production designed with the intimacy of a press kit. We see what she and her team wants to show, and nothing else.

As for incidental moments, there are precious few, save for a scene when President Trump, when discussing details for his inauguration, theorizes the College Football Playoff National Championship was set on the same day as his swearing in "on purpose" to detract from his day. We briefly see Melania show concern over her security detail during the inauguration-day events.

There's also a moment where Melania suggests Trump use the word "unifier" in his inauguration speech, and when he says it, we see him turn to and acknowledge his wife. Not exactly riveting stuff, but it's what passes for a personal moment in this stiff, detached document.

Ratner is a pop filmmaker with commercial sensibilities — he made three "Rush Hour" films and is said to be making a fourth — and "Melania" is filled with pop music needle drops (Rolling Stones, Tears for Fears, Spandau Ballet) that lend it a sleek, familiar sheen. She is, of course, an inherently political figure, but "Melania" strives for apoliticism: Here is a portrait of a woman, it says, who lives her life with purpose and devotion!

But what it shows is inconsequential, vapid and flat. "Melania" isn't even distinct enough to inspire those who champion her or to anger those who oppose her. Its defining trait is that it's numbingly, agonizingly dull.

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'MELANIA'

Grade: D+

MPA rating: PG (for some thematic elements)

Running time: 1:44

How to watch: Now in theaters

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