The Intern - Not too bad for comedic fluff
We have been seeing the trailer for this for several weeks and thought, maybe…time for a silly comedy. The Intern seemed to fit the bill. In this flick, Ben (Robert De Niro) is a retired guy who used to be VP of a New York company that printed telephone books. He retired well off, seems healthy and fit, but his wife died a few years ago, his kids grew up and moved and his carefully structured life just doesn’t work that well for him, so he looks for something else to do. Surprisingly, a new, hip company in Brooklyn that sells women’s fashions on the web is looking for some interns, with an eye to older applicants who can make them look less “agist”. Ben gets the job, finds himself in a rapid paced, web based environment, working for Jules (Anne Hathaway), the founder and owner of the company. Ben sticks out in this environment like a sore thumb. Circumstances intervene, however, and he ends up being not only an intern, but the driver for Jules. She is stretched to the limit, trying to keep the company going, and trying to somehow fit in time for her house-husband Matt (Anders Holm) and their young daughter Paige (JoJo Kushner).
In spite of her initial reservations, she finds Ben’s fatherly suggestions to be helpful. After all, the guy does have a lot of experience in life, is a really nice guy who supports her aspirations and his attitude helps her. The situation comes to a crisis, however, when Jules is pressured by her partners to hire a CEO who can run the nuts and bolts of the business. She really doesn’t want to share the running of the company, burned out or not. Increasingly, the surprising friendship of Ben and Jules helps her to keep her balance. When things get more stressful for Jules due to a family situation, Ben is there to help. In a side plot, the office masseuse also finds Ben and there are some sparks going on there.
A movie like this is somewhat like an old Chinese restaurant menu…pick one item from column A, one from the column B and select an ending….nothing very surprising in the plot, so it depends a lot on the characters and whether you like or identify with them. In this case, it works pretty well. Basically, Ben and Jules are both really nice people with good intentions. A lot of jokes center around just how culturally antiquated Ben is in this environment, but he’s also smart, likable and guileless so none of it seems mean spirited. The supporting characters are also good natured, so the whole story is fairly light, no big moral quandaries, imminent threats, death or destruction.
It works as well as it does due to the good chemistry between Hathaway and De Niro. Both seem like they are made for their characters and the fact that the acting doesn’t seem like much of a stretch doesn’t diminish the fact that it works. The supporting cast are as good as they need to be…no gravitas needed or given. The movie was written and directed by Nancy Meyers, also known for Something’s Got To Give, It’s Complicated, Father of the Bride and other similar light comedies. The writing and direction are both crisp, economical, to the point and work well in this genre. In spite of the fact that it’s not my genre of movie, once I decided to just sit back and relax, I liked it. It’s simple fluff, nothing very challenging, most of the plot is completely predictable, but it’s likable fluff. Being a movie with light aspirations and little originality but that completely hits its mark, I will give it a solid 3. I’d give it a 3.5 but for the sudden and (to me) not well fleshed out ending. I’ve seen other movies that attempted this sort of story and completely flopped…this one works. It ain’t D Day or Citizen Caine, but it is an enjoyable, light comedy.
