The Intern (2015)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 121 minutes
Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, Andrew Rannells, Adam DeVine, Zack Pearlman, Jason Orley, Christina Scherer, JoJo Kushner, Nat Wolff, Linda Lavin, Celia Weston
KRS Releasing Ltd
Robert De Niro plays Ben, a 70-year-old widower in Brooklyn, who has been doing his utmost to find ways to while away the time. Exasperated that he cannot find stuff to do, he answers a company’s call for senior interns.
He is recruited and assigned as intern for Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), the very busy CEO of an online fashion site. It is growing very fast and this leaves Jules very little time for her husband Matt (Anders Holm) and their daughter Paige (Jojo Kushner).
She is also facing trouble at work as her investors want a more experienced CEO at the company’s helm.
Jules already has an intern – Becky (Christina Scherer), who is up to her neck in work – but she accepts Ben. He soon befriends the other employees including Jason (Adam Devine), who heads the interns, and the tech-savvy Lewis and Davis (Jason Orley and Zack Pearlman). There is also Fiona (Rene Russo), the company’s masseuse, with whom he strikes a chord. When he starts to work as Jules’s driver he becomes quite close to her and she starts to realise he has a positive effect on her and that his experience can help her both at work and personally.
The tagline for The Intern is ‘experience never gets old’ and for De Niro this surely is the case. It’s also very refreshing to see a film where there is so much spark and chemistry between the leading main characters and yet no sexual undertones in their relationship.
Nancy Meyers in her capacity as writer, producer and director has delivered some very sweet romantic comedies and here she succeeds once again.
The relationship between the characters of Hathaway and De Niro is delivered in a matter-of-fact and relaxed manner, yet it highlights the fact that they are inherent opposites. Even the way they dress or approach the workplace is decidedly different and made to make us smile. Yet the way their connection develops to become a mix of parent-best friend relationship is very well handled.
Meyers has a history of handling unusual movie pairings, such as Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson (Something’s Gotta Give, 2003) or Meryl Streep with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin (It’s Complicated, 2009) and she has a knack for making these movie relationships work.
With Hathaway and De Niro, she actually delivers her best team-up in terms of acting and feel-good factor. The two characters and the respective actors seem to be getting something out of this relationship, making it look more valuable.
You leave the cinema with a warm and fuzzy feeling.