THE INTERN

GRADE: B-

Starring Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway

Written and Directed by Nancy Meyers

Rated PG-13 (language, vulgarity)  

Reviewed by Paul Gibbs

There are times when strong and charismatic performances can carry a movie past a formulaic and cliched script. There are also times when a lightweight film is just pleasantly enjoyable enough to allow the viewer's more critical tendencies to relax a little and just enjoy it for what it is. Fortunately, The Intern falls into both of these categories. As you would expect from writer/director Nancy Meyers, it's so formulaic it seems to be slavishly following a recipe, but the star turns fro Anne Hathaway and especially Robert DeNiro are so likable they could make a much weaker film pleasant enough to watch, and the film's gentle sense of humor is endearing.

DeNiro stars as Ben Whittaker, a 70-year old widower and retiree who is getting bored and stagnant, whiling away his days doing yoga and fending off the advances of Linda Lavin. Because this is the kind of movie where it matters even less than usual if something like this would happen in real life, Ben finds an ad for an internet clothing company experimenting with a "Senior Internship Program" wherein people his age act as interns because isn't that adorably quirky? Ben applies, and quickly becomes the personal internal to company founder Jules Ostin (Hathaway). The name "Jules Ostin" should tell you right away what a stock character Hathaway is playing: the brilliant but abrasive and yet endearingly quirky and deep down insecure and vulnerable yet driven and successful hip young fashion genius who is trying to juggle work and a complicated personal life. However, this is not a full-on romantic comedy, so Jules' is not looking for love. She's already married to a great guy named Matt (Anders Holm) who gave up a promising career in marketing to be a stay at home Dad to their precocious Hollywood daughter who talks like a fairly well-educated 25 year old. While at first Ben's simple, unassuming honesty and nice guyness is somehow off putting to Jules, they quickly bond and develop something of a father-daughter relationship, discovering that the generations can learn from each other and work together to give an audience warm fuzzies.

On paper, it's harder not to get overtly sarcastic and make The Intern sound flat out bad, because they charisma and chemistry of the stars can't be conveyed on paper. Of course this doesn't begin to resemble the powerhouse brilliance of DeNro's early career, but the great actor fully commits to the role, giving Ben a depth and warmth that make the character impossible not to love. Hathaway also adds considerable charm to the proceedings, and while the two do not seem to be an obvious pairing of Hollywood talents, the chemistry is undeniable, and watching these two play light and gentle comedy off of each other makes The Intern a nice way to spend a couple of hours at the movies, even if it should have been closer to an hour and 40 minutes. A little judicious trimming would have improved the film greatly, and they could have started with eliminating the fairly pointless subplot concerning Ben's romance with the company masseuse (Rene Russo), which seems to only be there to keep us from thinking Ben's interest in Jules is romantic. This turns out to be unnecessary: as common as May/December romances are in film, Ben simply comes across as too decent and honorable a guy to pursue a woman who could be his daughter.

On the whole, The Intern isn't going to win any Oscars or be remembered as a career highlight, but it's a pleasant evening of film going that reminds us how much a true movie star can add to a film. It's a date movie, or the kind of movie you go see with your Mom. And as unpopular as that is with the jaded, post modernist internet movie buff crowd of today, that's a perfectly valid flavor of popcorn entertainment, and those who enjoy that type of film will have a good time.