'Melania' and 'Zelig': Mockumentary at its finest

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use. Hoffman delights with his New Jersey quest for the best cottage cheese in the world -- Israeli -- much to the utter scorn of Borschel-Dan before turning to his scathing review of the new Amazon "documentary" charting the life of First Lady Melania Trump prior to the inauguration.  We hear a theory that producer Melania Trump attempted to recapture the Eastern European propaganda look of her youth in the MAGA vehicle probing her napkin choices and Hoffman rates her success. In the same genre of mockumentary, we take a new look at the masterful 1983 "Zelig" by Woody Allen. Check out the one "oy" and one "not baaaaad" film (our highest mark) in this week's The Reel Schmooze. The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: First Lady Melania Trump and US President Donald Trump before the premiere of her movie 'Melania' at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, January 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.