Director: Nancy Meyers
Cast: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, JoJo Kushner, Andrew Rannells, Adam DeVine, Zack Pearlman, Jason Orley, Christina Scherer
Genre: Comedy
Run Time: 121mins
Synopsis: 7-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the fame, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin.
I have been desperately wanting to catch up on movies after having a few weeks of not seeing any thanks to work and life and whatever. I mean how very dare they take me away from my favourite thing ever?! Such is the life of a high flying business manager I guess *sigh*. Anyway, the very fantastic Labor Government of Victoria gave us an extra public holiday this week so that we could all go and see the AFL Grand Final Parade (it's kind of a big deal to almost every person who sports in Victoria), and whilst I do not care so much for the parade, I was grateful for an additional day off which I put to good use by going to the cinema and avoiding everything to do with the final parade.
I rocked up with no plans of what I was going to see because there is so much on right now that I want to see, looked at what was on at the time, asked which one had the least amount of people in it and chose that one. THE INTERN.
Nancy Meyers has written and directed some very divisive pieces over the years (THE HOLIDAY, IT'S COMPLICATED, SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE) - fans tend to love them, critics tend to hate them. Mostly critics hate them because they tend not to have too much substance, and often a strange take on relationships. THE INTERN is not much different I'm afraid, critics are hating on it and fans are having a great time. The box office should do well, even though it is getting absolutely hammered by most critics. To be fair, the film is not an amazing, quality piece of cinema, however, I had a laugh, there were a couple of what I guess you could call 'twists' (although I picked them pretty early on), and there was a moment where some people had a teary. On the flip side, there were moments where I was annoyed, stunned and ashamed as well. Take it for what it is - a nice little piece of chick flick fodder and I think you'll have a decent enough time.
Ben, Jason and Davis after Ben's first meeting with the in house masseur
image via Warner Bros.
Ben Whittaker (De Niro) is bored out of his mind as a retiree and becomes a senior intern at an online fashion company and is assigned to the company's founder Jules Ostin (Hathaway), who absolutely doesn't want an intern. Ben is old school, wears a suit to work every day, has a briefcase, carries a handkercheif, nobody in the company of 20-somethings understands him. Slowly but surely, they all come to appreciate him, turn to him for advice, and need him. Especially Jules. That takes all of about 30 minutes, so what could have been a nice little piece of conflictuous (thanks international male model David from the Bachelorette) drama is resolved and everyone is all lah-di-dah happy days.
Ostin has a family - a hubby and a young daughter - which I was not expecting, and hubby is a stay-at-home-dad, so Ostin can be a glass ceiling breaker, awesome sauce career woman. Not surprisingly the family suffers, and we hear about how women are supposed to be able to have it all and then when they get it everything else falls apart. That irked me a little - things fall apart because people don't work hard at keeping them together, not becuase a woman has a successful career. Again, this conflict is all sorted out in about 25 seconds and everyone lives happily ever after, boring, boring, boring. Just FYI if I had been in that situation, there would have been more than a few tears and a hug for it to be all better. I would have thrown shit and screamed and probably punched someone in the face. Clearly I am not as together as Jules Ostin is.
FYI this kid is pretty good as Ostin's daughter Paige - one to watch!
image via Warner Bros.
Ben gets his own little love interest in Fiona the in house massuer (Rene Russo) who is probably 10 years his junior, after we see him running screaming from the woman his own age who clearly has a thing for him. Why is the notion of dating a woman the same age, who isn't as glamourous as say Rene Russo is, such a laughable idea? Why do we have to be force fed the idea of a man seeing a younger woman because she is more attractive? Annoying point number 3.
The best bit of the film was when Ben and three of his younger colleagues break into Ostin's mother's house to delete an email that she accidentally sent, which turns into a hilarioius caper. It has nothing to do with the central plot and I'm surprised it didn't end on the cutting room floor, but I'm glad it didn't. It was hysterical and gave the film a lift just when you needed it.
Breaking and entering hijinks - hilarity ensues
image via Warner Bros.
Everyone lives happily ever after, the conflicts are resolved with no muss and no fuss, and even though there is plenty of on screen blubbering (Ben carries a handkercheif to assist all the women who are always crying), this is generally a feel good piece of fodder.
The casting is fabulous, although the character of Ben was a little restrictive and I would have loved to have seen more from De Niro, he was funny and charming and played it with a little sparkle that you can't help but love. Hathaway was endearing, and although her character was a little vapid, she did a wonderful job at keeping me engaged through her character. Sadly the supporting roles are a little thinly written, and while they had their funny moments, there was potential for more to come out of that talented bunch.
The direction was exactly what I've come to expect from Meyers, the film flows nicely through a relatively corny and misogynist script. The set is impeccable which is no surprise for a Meyer film, however the soundtrack was waaaayyyy to schmultzly for me. It invoked more of the "shhhh" vibe than the emotions it probably meant to invoke.
Overall, THE INTERN isn't a front runner of films to go see given all the amazing things that are on at the moment, however, if you've seen everything or you're into a good chick flick, or you really like Meyer's other stuff then THE INTERN is for you and you probably wouldn't mind spending the 20-something dollars on it.
2.7 out of 5
xoxo
The Blonde Bombshell
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