REVIEW: The Intern

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Nancy Meyers will never be credited with revolutionizing cinema, but she’s very good at what she does. And whether or not you appreciate her craft largely depends on how you feel about the subgenre of film in which she excels: fluffy comedies about the low-stakes problems of rich, pretty white people

I don’t mean that in a dismissive way, I’m simply observing what her characters have in common. Take a look at her filmography: there’s the Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday and It’s Complicated. She also wrote Steve Martin’s Father of the Bride movies. Noticing a pattern yet?

Her latest, The Intern, doesn’t shake up that formula at all. But why should it? Meyers clearly loves making these movies, great actors keep lining up to star in them and there’s an enthusiastic audience that adores them. It’s a prime example of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model.

Robert De Niro plays Ben Whittaker, a 70-year-old widower who retired a few years ago and is now bored out of his mind. When he spots an ad for a clothing website seeking “senior interns,” he jumps at the chance.

His envious business background impresses the company’s execs, all of whom are roughly 40 years his junior, so they assign him to head honcho Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). At first, it’s an awkward fit. But Ben’s old-school demeanor and Jules’ dedication to making her business a success lead to a surprising friendship.

The biggest surprise about The Intern is De Niro’s winning performance. He’s one of the greatest actors on the planet, but I don’t think anyone would deny he’s been phoning it in for the last few years. On paper, this seems like another movie he’d sleepwalk through for a paycheck; fortunately, that’s not the case at all.

Not only is he awake, he’s downright endearing. Granted, his character is essentially one step away from being a magical genie, but his charming rapport with Hathaway distracts from any nuance or complexity Ben is lacking.

Speaking of pleasing performances, Hathaway is back in her wheelhouse after a string of heavy dramas. It’s nice to see her return to The Princess Diaries mode for a while. The rest of the cast is also strong, boasting fun work from Rene Russo as the company’s in-house masseuse (see, I told you it was that kind of movie) and Adam DeVine, Zack Pearlman, and Jason Orley as a trio of young guys in desperate need of Ben’s life experience.

The Intern has a couple of peculiar problems, like an ending that just sort of fizzles out and completely forgets about the secondary characters. But my biggest gripe concerns a late-stage plot development that adds significant moral complications to what is an otherwise cotton candy story.

I’m not saying this situation isn’t plausible, but it seems out of place when the rest of the story takes great pains to exist in a world of “movie problems” instead of real ones. And throwing it in so late in the game means the narrative doesn’t spend enough time addressing the ramifications.

These issues don’t damage the film’s overall appeal, they just left me scratching my head a bit as I left the theater. But I’m guessing Meyer’s target demo isn’t going to care; they’re going to adore her latest. It’s got the potential to be one of the fall’s big sleeper hits.

The Intern is rated PG-13 for some suggestive content and brief strong language.

Grade: B-