Movie Review: 'The Intern'

Photo Credit: Francois Duhamel
ROBERT DE NIRO as Ben Whittaker and ANNE HATHAWAY as Jules Ostin in Warner Bros. Pictures' comedy "THE INTERN," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Seventy-year-old Ben Whitaker (Robert De Niro) is retired, recently widowed and seeking something more in his life. "There's a hole in my life and I need to fill it," Ben explains in the opening narration of The Intern. "I still have music in me," he adds.

Ben finds a flyer seeking senior interns for an online clothing company run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) a micro-managing control freak who sets up an appointment to meet Ben at 3:55pm prior to her 4:00 pm. Her company About the Fit is seeking people with a lifetime of experience instead of kids who have spent the last four years playing beer pong, and Ben (who worked at one company for 40 years) seems ideal. He gets the internship and the film is off and running.

Ben is assigned to work directly for Jules who, of course, gives him nothing to do until he slowly inserts his way into her life and proves himself invaluable in every way imaginable. It sounds formulaic and perhaps it is, but in the hands of writer/director Nancy Myers, The Intern is an immensely entertaining film. There are numerous set pieces that are absolutely hilarious, including an Ocean's Eleven parody of a mini-heist that Ben orchestrates with three young associates as well as several amusing scenes with Renee Russo as the company masseuse who seduces Ben.

De Niro proves remarkably deft with light comedy and gives one of his most subtle, charming performances in years. Myers has often been criticized for making films about wealthy, career driven people, but the old adage of "write what you know" has always worked for her and it certainly does in The Intern.