The Intern

 THE INTERN

Director : Nancy Meyers

Year : 2015

Genre : Comedy

Rating : ***

 

Academy Award winners Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro play best friends separated by age and wisdom in Nancy Meyer's 'The Intern' - a completely ordinary yet nonetheless charming drama/comedy that makes the most of it's star studded cast as well as a smart screenplay that hits all of the typical equal oppurtunity notes and 'old people not being able to use technology' beats. In the film, De Niro plays Ben Whitaker, a septuagenarian who bags an internship at an online fashion company led by Anne Hathaway's ambitious yet flawed Jules Ostin. What develops is a close and highly personal friendship between the unlikely duo as career problems and marital strife slowly raises their ugly heads. The performances from the two central leads are surprisingly strong and De Niro certainly makes the most of playing an unrelentingly nice guy. Sadly, an extended cameo from 'Nightcrawler's Rene Russo really fails to make the most of her considerable talents while a running time of nearly two hours stretches the admittedly thin material to breaking point at times. However, the fine performances and typically witty screenplay by Meyers helps things to chug along nicely making 'The Intern' an unremarkable yet fun and sometimes emotive way to kill 120 minutes in a cinema seat.