The Intern

 
Nancy Meyer’s latest film is not exactly one for people who like their movies to have a story. Despite the appearance of things taking place, The Intern boils down to this: Ben Whittaker (Robert DeNiro) is a 70-year-old widower and retiree who feels he still has something to offer, so he takes a position as a senior intern at All About The Fit, an online shopping company created and run by harried thirtysomething Jules Osten (Anne Hathaway).
He promptly befriends the other, more traditionally aged interns, works his way gradually into Jules’ good graces, proves to be super-competent in every way (he used to work for a phone book company, suggesting that his retirement was due to his line of work vanishing and not anything to do with his waning powers) and basically becomes a magic unpaid job fairy. Meanwhile, Jules’ big problem is that the investors want her to hire a CEO to run her firm and be her boss, whereas she doesn’t really want to relinquish control despite her frantic life and a family situation that just might be starting to show some cracks.
There’s basically zero drama here; what you’re paying to see is two people becoming friends, and it almost works thanks to extremely charming performances from both leads (DeNiro emits enough warmth to melt an ice cap; Hathaway dials down the quirky just enough to be convincing as someone ultra-competent, which is always attractive). It’s sloppy, leisurely, full of somewhat dubious messages – Whittaker is basically a high-grade personal assistant, so maybe having him provide this service for free to a firm that’s raking in cash is a bit crappy – and in Jules’ husband Matt (Anders Holm) provides perhaps the most insipid neckbearded male character in years, but it’s hard to deny that seeing two nice people become friends is a perfectly pleasant way to spend two hours.
Reviewed by Anthony Morris