The Intern is a movie by Nancy Myers (Something’s Gotta Give, What Women Want etc) that tells the story of retiree and widower, Ben Whittaker (Robert DeNiro) who joins an outreach program for senior interns at a company called, About the Fit, an online fashion company founded by Jules Oston (Anne Hathaway). He is assigned to working with Jules, who is so busy, everything in her life is scheduled to a tee and she is still always an hour behind. She doesn’t warm up to him and doesn’t even make time for him until he becomes her chauffeur and they get to know each other better on a personal level and the story line evolves from the office to Jule’s personal life.
I had absolutely no intentions of seeing this movie and really had no say in seeing it but once again I was pleasantly surprised. Now, I have to say, certain movies you go into not expecting the moon and the stars, The Intern is one of them. It’s basically a feel good movie. Like a warm blanket on a cold night. As much as people may find Anne Hathaway annoying, the one thing you can’t take away from her is that she can act. And I feel the combination of skill between her and DeNiro elevated the movie. In the wrong hands, it could easily have gone bad.
The supporting cast of the movie add to the comedic elements and I laughed out loud in some parts. One of my favorite parts of the movies was in the beginning when Ben makes a video resume for the intern program. It was a tad depressing but it gave insight to what it feels like being a senior citizen and living in a world that practically forgets you exist. It just seemed like a real moment.
The one critique I would say is how “good” Ben was. It was almost syrupy. Everything about this man’s life was so noble and so kind and he was so patient and wise and knew all the right things to do and say and it was a little too much. We weren’t given one vice in him.
Overall, it was an enjoyable movie and I actually didn’t feel like it was a waste of money. Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway share great chemistry and there’s a little unexpected twist that comes up in the movie and it gets serious for a minute where the age old question of “Can a woman have it all?” comes up and the pov given in the moment was realistic given the circumstance. So I am basically saying I recommend it.
PS. I really hope I am not getting soft 🙁