Nancy Meyers’ The Intern can be a lot of things to a lot of people but for me it is the nebuliser after the MSG 2 asthma attack last week! And I can’t thank the cinema gods enough! Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway together – yeah that’s what the doctor ordered!
The film starts off like it should – warm, fuzzy and very engaging. A 70-year-old man interning at an e-commerce company, sure that’s a fresh idea! And with such gems in the acting department, things couldn’t have looked better.
Anne Hathaway, the lady who can light up the screen by just flashing her smile, plays the boss. It’s like her character takes off from where she left in Devil Wears Prada. Now the founder and CEO of “All About the Fit”, Jules Ostin, has it all, or so it seems. A super-successful career, a loving stay-at-home husband (Anders Holm) taking the burden off her and a cute little daughter.
As part of a public outreach programme they decide to hire senior citizens as interns and for that we should be eternally grateful. It is this rather unusual cue that lets Robert De Niro walk in as Ben Whittaker. Now a widower, he carries a 1973 briefcase, dons a formal suit and tie complete with a handkerchief at hand. Chivalrous, genial and always ready to help he is portrayed as belonging to the nearly extinct species of a “true gentleman”. A lot of things set Ben and Jules apart other than the obvious age gap and it is this unique relationship that The Intern portrays.
It’s to Nancy Meyers’ credit that the film stays clear of some typical ageist jokes. Ofcourse the whole generation gap angle is explored but with class and wit. Ben is a highly likeable character and all credit to Robert De Niro for that. Jules on the other hand has her quirks – she cycles around in office, hardly eats, and snores loudly but Anne Hathaway is the heart of the film. No wonder then that the first half is a pleasant zephyr.
The second half is dotted over with memorable scenes. Some are funny, others emotional. Nancy Meyers has some great actors supporting her venture like Rene Russo, Adam DeVine, Linda Lavin, and each one gets their moment under the sun. But that leaves us with lots of entertaining nuggets with no real cohesiveness to the narrative. This 116-minute film seems to have a stretched end with a laboured denouement. What the story lacks is some crunch. We crave for some kind of friction that would lend the movie another layer of insightfulness, but it all ends up being too plain vanilla for comfort.
I will definitely recommend The Intern to you. It’s the genuine camaraderie between Ben and Jules and the precious friendship between them that makes it such an endearing watch. I give the movie 3.5/5 Quints!
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