The Intern (12) | Home Ents Review

The film should appeal to older people but not be quite as popular from the feminist point of view. Ben (Robert De Niro), now 70-years-old and a widower, is not very happy with his life: he feels useless and non-productive. His wife has been dead three and a half years and he still really misses her. He applies for an internship and gets accepted at an on-line retail clothing company whose CEO is Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). At first Jules finds it very difficult dealing with an older man as her employee, but as Ben begins to make himself useful in lots of ways around the office she gets used to him.

Ben finds himself driving Jules and thus gets to know her family situation. The child is sweet but Ben discovers that her husband is having an affair. Jules also knows this and Ben gets himself into the position of not only advising on company strategy but also on how Jules should manage her husband and family affairs. Ben is not only brilliant at advising the top person, he also gives advice to the other staff on how to dress and how to behave.

De Niro performs well and fits nicely into his role of sorting out people’s problems as does Hathaway who shows how she has successfully built up her business and also spends some time with her daughter, and the two stars work well together. There is a nice character study by Rene Russo who shows De Niro that he still has sex appeal when the two date.

There is some good background music including Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and Fats Waller.

DVD extras include interviews with the director and start. Myers says the film is about friendship between two people who otherwise would never meet.

Nancy Myers has written a new story which she directs with insight into the older person. We see an older person demonstrating his knowledge and we learn how his experience and wisdom that comes with age is of benefit to others. It is surprising to see, however, that she has made the female star something of a weepy subordinate to De Niro’s character. I would have preferred a stronger female lead!

Review by Carlie Newman

The Intern is out now on DVD.