The Intern

Release Date: September 25th, 2015
Running Time: 121 minutes
Written & Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm

Sometime in the late 1990s when Robert De Niro was in his mid-50s he began starring in comedies—uncharacteristic of the intense/crazy/tough guy roles he'd previously been most known for. Many of these films flopped, financially and creatively; not necessarily because De Niro can't do comedy, but more so because they just weren't very good scripts. He still does a range of roles, of course, but it seems like about half of them lately are comedies whereas prior to around 1999 he was only in a handful. The Intern follows that trend as a largely successful entry into De Niro’s late-career comedy phase.

Among De Niro’s pre-1999 comedy winners, the only real standouts are: 1988's classic buddy flick/road movie Midnight Run and 1997's darkly comical political satire Wag the Dog. Likewise Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (in which De Niro was outstanding) could also be considered a comedy, as could Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1983), which is more so a black comedy but certainly has its funny moments (Scorsese has stated that he regards this as De Niro's greatest performance). Since then he's starred in mafia movie sendups Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002) (both with their genuinely funny moments) playing a caricature of his mobster roles, the Meet the Parents/Fockers trilogy (also with their moments), the fantasy/comedy Stardust (2007) in which he played a cross-dressing pirate of sorts, and the fairly funny ensemble comedy The Big Wedding (2013), among other comedies of varying levels of success. And while some De Niro comedies haven't been very good, and some downright awful, I nonetheless admire the great actor for broadening his scope, and lightening up. 

The Intern is in many ways standard genre fare; formulaic sentimentality crossing into outright schmaltz at times. But that's not necessarily wholly bad, for people who like the expected, established conventions of Hollywood cinema genres like the “romantic comedy”. The story revolves around De Niro's character Ben Whitaker, a 70-year-old retired executive, bored after his wife's death, who applies for a senior citizen intern program with the hope to be involved in something positive again. It's a decent premise, and one that I haven't seen before. He gets the job at About the Fit, a successful e-commerce fashion startup, whose founder and CEO Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) had previously agreed to an outreach program to hire seniors as interns at her company. Ben is assigned to Jules, who initially largely dismisses him and gives him only menial tasks. But before long Ben impresses much of the staff and Jules takes notice, warming up to him as well. Ben becomes something of a father figure to her and some of the other office staff who, appropriately for a movie of this kind, are all ultra-cute and/or ultra-quirky twentysomethings and thirtysomethings.  

References to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix, etc., permeate the dialogue regularly, to remind us of what a modern world it is in contrast to Ben's old school ways. A refreshing element though is that the film, somewhat surprisingly, is not full of jokes about old people. Sure, there are numerous scenes showing Ben's initial ignorance of and ineptitude with computer technology and social media, but it's not mean-spirited so much as simply ringing true. Of course Ben doesn't know much about Facebook or Twitter—he's 70. But he's open to learning about these things, and does. To the contrary, it's the young characters that appear insecure and ignorant in contrast to Ben's steady confidence and maturity. De Niro owns this role and carries the movie as a man who's in the last quarter of his life, knows it and accepts it, but wants to keep living it to the fullest—not in any zany, kooky way, mind you, but rather by interacting with everyone he encounters in a professional, gracious manner.

I'm not one to usually use terms like "chick flick", but if I was it would certainly apply here. The film is written and directed by Nancy Meyers, whose previous writing and directing credits include such similarly conventional comedies as What Women Want (2000), Something's Gotta Give (2003), and The Holiday (2006). Like those films, The Intern certainly hits all the usual notes of mainstream Hollywood rom-coms, as well as being kind of a "career person" or "workplace" comedy. The romantic relationships are twofold; one that develops between Ben and the office masseuse (Rene Russo), and the other between Jules and her husband Matt (Anders Holm), whom we discover has sacrificed his own career to be a stay-at-home dad to their little daughter Paige so that Jules can run her successful new business. For the first third or so of the film, everybody seems happy and perfect. But, thankfully, problems are eventually revealed.

We learn that indeed all is not rosy in Jules' home life; a growing rift has been developing between her and Matt due to her workaholic tendencies, and, possibly, his growing resentment towards her success which has led not only to her neglect of him and their daughter, but also to Matt's increasing sense of lacking manhood. Jules is aware of this, however, so has been considering stepping back from running the company and hiring a CEO in her place so she can have more time with the family. This is a huge conflict for her, given that she's her own boss and the company has been highly successful under her direction. But the company's grown so big, so fast, so at the urging of her investors and business partners, she proceeds to interview people for the job. What emerges is perhaps the only real villain in the film—sexism in business, as Jules struggles to find a potential CEO who takes her seriously enough, as a woman, that she'd be willing to hand her company over to him. Oddly though, the film ignores any mention of Jules seeking a woman CEO to take over for her, or if this would make it less of a conflict for her.

The Intern looks at issues of gender roles in the workplace and at home, and sexism in the business world, adding up to something of a feminist take on the romantic comedy genre. But it's a bit muddled as such. On one hand it shows a strong, successful woman who founded her own company and whose husband agrees to be a stay-at-home dad in support. But on the other hand it shows that this isn't working, as the husband and daughter are continually neglected and Jules guilt-ridden about it. Yet, perhaps predictably, it all works out with a super-sappy happy ending. So, it turns out to be some kind of a feminist fantasy fairy tale after all, saying that a woman can have it all; husband, kids, and professional success, if a wife and husband can just be honest with each other. It's a nice notion, but the reality is much more complicated than that. While it shows Jules and her husband resolving to do it all, the film doesn't elaborate one iota on how they plan to make it work better.

To its credit though, The Intern presents the feminist and gender role issues in a direct way, most notably in scenes between Ben and Jules when they take a business trip together and she opens up about her domestic problems. This is where the film's greatest strength lies, in the unconventional relationship between Ben and Jules. She's his boss, yet he's twice her age and has wisdom and grace that he's gained through experience. Hathaway is terrific as always here, but De Niro really brings it home—and rightly so, since he's the main protagonist, the eldest character and the eldest actor. At times though, his role as the father figure is amped up a bit too much, with a few too many all-knowing looks and concerned glances that he gives Jules and the other young characters who he takes under his wing.

Overall, The Intern is sappy, sentimental, and largely predictable—but not pretentious. It's unapologetically all those things without pretending to be another kind of film, a deeper or more serious one. It's light entertainment laced with threads of meaningful resonance in its exploration of relationships. And for all that, it's pretty good.
Rating (out of 5): ★★★½
• Nik Dobrinsky / Boy Drinks Ink
March 9th, 2016