Went to see this film with my husband on Friday at the Leeds/Bradford Odeon.
IMDB says: 70-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 game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin.
In this Nancy Myers (The Holiday, Something's Gotta Give) written and directed film, Robert De Niro (Goodfellas, The Godfather Part II) is Ben Whittaker and Anne Hathaway (Interstellar, Les Misérables) is Jules Ostin. At first when Cameron (Andrew Rannells: Bachelorette, The New Normal) suggests an intern from the Senior Programme, Ostin is resistant to Whittaker thinking he is far too observant, even though the rest of the office, including fellow new intern Davis (Zack Pearlman: Staten Island Summer, The Virginity Hit), office worker Jason (Adam DeVine: Pitch Perfect, Bad Neighbours) and her assistant Becky (Christina Scherer: True Blood, Perception) take an instant liking to him.
When her usual driver lets her down, Whittaker steps in and before long he is helping in all aspects of her life, including her family (husband Matt, Anders Holm: The Interview, Workaholics and daughter Paige, JoJo Kushner: The One That I Want, Chanel No.5 advertisement).
Given another Senior Intern in Doris (Celia Weston: The Talented Mr Ripley, Hulk) when she requests to have him move department, she realises that she might need him more than she would like to admit.
The movie starts off well, establishing strong characters and great chemistry between the actors and you realise that it is not going to be a totally light-hearted affair. There are some genuine questions posed on the suitability of experienced people in the workplace and the work/life balance of a career woman. Nice touches with the generation gap between colleagues are dealt with sensitively and without resorting to the usual stereotypes and even the empty time aspect of retirement for some people is addressed well (even going for appropriate laughs with a funeral first date - trust me when you see the film, you will understand), but then the film loses its way.
In my opinion, there are a couple of things wrong with this film, one, De Niro and Hathaway are far too good actors to be in such a predictable plot and two, it is hard to believe that Hathaway would have a husband like the character of Matt, and for my money, this may be the answer to the low box office numbers. Some fantastic performances and great comedic moments (the scene where we are introduced to office Masseuse Fiona (Rene Russo: Thor, Outbreak) is a particular standout) are spoilt by a saggy second half and a misdirected ending (no spoilers, but a powerful woman like the feminist Ostin character would not act so weak in this area) and what could have been a powerful message is then lost.
It is an enjoyable movie though and I for one, left the movie with a smile on my face.
Trivia: Jack Nicholson was approached for the role of Whittaker, before De Niro and Hathaway replaced Reese Witherspoon as Ostin and this film was once set up at Paramount Pictures with Tina Fey in the lead role.
Tagline: Experience never gets old. 7.5/10
#TheIntern #RobertDeNiro #AnneHathaway
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