Film Review: "The Intern"

Image via ComingSoon.net

One of the things that stood out to me immediately when I walked into the theater for this movie was the amount of senior citizens that were in attendance. That, to me, shows that the advertising for this film hit its primary target which is not surprising considering the premise of this movie. It was also cool seeing so many people lining up to see a Robert De Niro movie that is actually worth watching, because in recent years, those types of movies have been few and far between.

The Intern follows retired widower, Ben Whittaker, as he lands an internship with an up-and-coming online store after an endless search for a way to pass the time. As he begins at About the Fit, he is immediately faced with a world that he was once familiar with but that has since evolved drastically thanks to technological advances. Being the curious and observant man that he is, however, he begins to learn from his much younger colleagues and before long he is able to become an important asset to the company. The main focus of this movie, however, is on the relationship between Ben and his boss, Jules, and I will explore that further below.

** WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD**

At the beginning of The Intern, when Ben (Robert De Niro) is making his video to apply for the internship he references a quote from Louis Armstrong that says: "Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them." I think that quote was true for Ben just as much as it is for Robert De Niro because with this role, De Niro was able to show that there is still some music left in him. De Niro was both funny and charming, but what impressed me the most was the way in which he was able to show the internal struggles he felt throughout the movie. It was a lot of fun seeing De Niro, who represents the older part of society, interact with the younger generation and try to make himself fit into today's world while staying true to himself.

Anne Hathaway, who is representing the younger generation, plays the overworked entrepreneur Jules Ostin who starts off a bit unlikeable but quickly grows on you. What I enjoyed the most from her was actually seeing her relationship with De Niro develop because I thought the two had great chemistry together. You can easily understand why Jules would choose not to pay much attention to Ben so it's cool seeing him slowly win her over and proving that he actually is a valuable asset to her. As the story progresses, you can see that their relationship becomes pretty even in the sense of what each gains from having the other as they both learn vastly different yet important things from each other. By the end of the movie, Ben becomes a sort of confidant to Jules rather than simply his intern and you totally believe it.

The premise of this movie lends itself to be a pretty entertaining story that will evoke all kinds of different emotions from you. It's a quirky idea for a movie that somehow makes itself seem believable without much trouble. It's also a movie that is able to reach multiple generations of people as it shows both young and older people in a positive light, focusing on the favorable aspects of each. It subtlety speaks to multiple stereotypes that different generations face and explains why those stereotypes are unfair.

There are only a few issues that I had with The Intern. First off, I disliked the way in which they depicted Jules' relationship with her mother and I hated that it never got resolved. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be added onto the movie for the sole purpose of having the heist scene in the movie. While it was a funny scene, I don't think Jules speaks to her mother again after that scene and I wish that she would have at least showed some effort after that to have a better relationship with her. With one exception, the supporting cast was actually very good, but I wish they would have been used a bit more. The only character I didn't like at all was Jules's husband, Matt, who is played by Anders Holm. He came off as very monotone and bland, and maybe he was written to come off that way, but it just didn't work for me. 

Overall, this is a very entertaining movie to watch. It's not going to win any sort of award, but it's the best Robert De Niro movie in the past 3 years and that is good enough for me. This is an 8.5/10 for me.