'Giant Bomb': Nepo Baby Malia Obama's Film Flooded With Negative Reviews After Directorial Debut at Sundance
Malia Obama's short film has been plagued with negative reviews.
Feb. 20 2024, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Nepo baby Malia Obama's short film has been plagued with negative reviews after her directorial debut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Malia's The Heart is being savagely ripped apart — but commenters might have a hidden political motive despite her desperate attempt to separate herself from her parents, Barack and Michelle Obama, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The former president and first lady's oldest daughter, 25, dropped her last name to avoid the negative stigma about growing up in a famous family. Instead of using her recognizable Obama surname to gain attention for The Heart, which she wrote and directed, Malia chose to use her middle name, Ann, in its place.
The credits of her short film reads "Malia Ann" instead of "Malia Obama."
'The Heart' is being savagely ripped apart — but commenters might have a hidden political motive.
Despite ditching the Obama last name, Malia wasn't able to shake off the nepotism backlash, with several naysayers trashing her film on the movie social network Letterboxd.
"Can you really be a true indie filmmaker if your dad was President?" one person asked.
Calling Malia's film "fine," another Letterboxd user said the "issue here is honestly that this kid just doesn't get to fail. Your first short film has a s---load of money thrown at it Donald Glover producing and you walk into Sundance....
"Wasn't this a thing for indies back in the day? You should be allowed to be mid when you are learning and I think what rubs people the wrong way is getting to be mid on a national scale. You should have the opportunity to f--- up small scale but I can only imagine we get a Malia Ann (who are you fooling here girl just own it) feature film within two years... Malia I bet you're on Letterboxd reading these so please god your life will be easier if you just own it," the user continued.
"It is so funny that basically the ambition of our political ruling class is actually just to make FX shows... like girl you could start your own kingdom in Illinois if you so chose."
She dropped her famous last name in the credits but it didn't work.
Others couldn't wait to drag her father into the reviews.
"Honoring her father's legacy by dropping a giant bomb and not receiving any criticism for it," said one critic, referencing his office's military strikes while in office.
Another negative reviewer said they "should've turned around and asked Malia's dad what he was doing with those drones in Syria from 2012 to 2015."
While this is Malia's first short she directed, she's no stranger to the Hollywood industry.
Obama's daughter was interning for Harvey Weinstein as a stript reader before his reputation was destroyed when his sexual assault history was made public with the "Me Too" movement. After graduating from college, she went on to work with Glover, who had glowing reviews about her future.
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While the short is her directorial debut, Malia's been working in the industry for a few years.
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"She’s just like, an amazingly talented person. She’s really focused, and she’s working really hard," Glover said of Malia. "I feel like she’s just somebody who’s gonna have really good things coming soon. Her writing style is great."
