The Intern writer-director Nancy Meyers has not put out a movie in six years, since Meryl Streep dazzled us in It’s Complicated. In that time, the auteur has had to deal with her father’s declining health and she also admits that it has taken a lot for a studio to green light a film about an older person imparting knowledge on a younger, yet still successful, individual.
Between the time to hone the story and the effort to get it green lit, Meyers could not have gotten more familiar with her characters, and in hindsight, the six year period it took to make The Intern was oh so worth the wait. The characters are all so fully drawn, even the smaller supporting roles that prove integral to this rich, resonant and surprisingly heartwarming story.
Robert De Niro stars as Ben, a 70-year-old widower who has retired, but finds the “easy” life does not fit him too well. He’s antsy. Ben has traveled the world, taken up yoga and visited his son and grandchildren more times than he can count. It’s not enough. There’s still much for him to offer. So, when he sees a flier in a neighborhood coffee house for a Senior Internship Program with an online retail success, he leaps at the chance… even if he has to ask his grandson what a USB cable is so he can upload a video as part of the application process.
Of course Ben is hired and he shows up on his first day of work at the Brooklyn office and is assigned to the founder of the company, Anne Hathaway’s Jules. She’s overworked and stretched thin and ironically, an intern would greatly help her. But, she seems to judge Ben by his cover (he wears a suit where the rest of the office is business casual and… well, he’s older!) and she resists employing him to do much more than take a stained jacket to the dry cleaners.
Did we mention that Ben is determined? He’s not pushy. He just plays his cards right and waits for the right time to offer his two cents. As it turns out, the man of great experience might just have something to offer this internet entrepreneur, who’s also a mother to an adorable little girl that’s being raised by her stay-at-home husband. Ben could end up being much more than The Intern, he might just be the first intern-mentor in business history.
Meyers’ script manages to avoid stereotypes and having the character of Ben be a preachy know-it-all who’s seen more than his fair share in his day. Like we stated, he’s a fully drawn out character (all of The Intern’s souls are!) whose life lessons seem to come at the right time. And they don’t just arrive for Jules. He is a wise soul who has slowly but surely become a favorite for many in this office.
Why The Intern also works so well is the chemistry between Hathaway and De Niro. On paper it seems like the two Oscar winners would work, but that does not always seem to be the case in the movie world. There’s a repartee with these two that is utterly charming. And unlike other filmmakers who would force their collective charm together, Meyers nurtures it over the course of the movie so that when these two become confidants, it is not only believable, but has the audience pulling for these two to succeed in every endeavor they undertake.
Grade: B+