The Intern - directed by Nancy Meyers
Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, Zack Pearlman, Andrew Rannells, Adam DeVine, Jason Orley, Christina Scherer, Nat Wolff, JoJo Kushner, Celia Weston, Linda Lavin
Running Time: 121 minutes
Rated: M - One 'F' word and some very mild sexual references
Here's a movie.
I don't mean that as high praise as in 'Now here's a goddamned movie!'
No, I mean "The Intern" is so self consciously a movie that it often defies belief.
I fully accept the notion that movies have dialogue that is often not reflective of real life.
The films of Quentin Tarantino are often praised for their naturalistic dialogue but I have never found that to be the case.
People in real life may talk about foot massages and the meaning of Madonna's song lyrics but they just don't do it in the fashion that Vincent Vega and Mr Brown do.
But it's okay... no- better than okay- it is perfect for the movies that "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" are.
People in real life also don't talk the way that Ben Whittaker (De Niro) and Jules Ostin (Hathaway) talk in "The Intern".
And if I knew what sort of movie it was trying to be I might be more accepting of it.
But I don't and I am not.
The setup for this film is that retired widower Ben Whittaker feels restless with nothing to do. He has travelled, taken up hobbies and attended lots of funerals but he needs something to keep him busy and satisfied.
So the offer of an internship for a senior at a local company that sells fashion online fits him like a glove.
(apart from his lack of tech prowess of course but details, details....)
He is assigned to the CEO - young go-getter and company founder Jules Ostin.
Jules doesn't want Ben there and is too busy running her company and learning that she may have to employ an experienced CEO to run it for her as Cameron tells her.
I don't know who Cameron is - I assume some sort of manager or the like but if they said I missed it.
Regardless - two pretty solid conflicts to base a movie off there.
"The Intern" isn't really interested in conflicts however - not to start with at least.
The first hour or more of this movie is an absolute nice-fest.
Everyone is pleasant and friendly and just lovely.
They all love Ben -even Jules eventually and specially Fiona (Rene Russo) the company masseuse and apparent Viagra substitute (watch the trailer - you'll see what I mean).
Ben is to be there for six weeks but seemingly after a couple of days he is up to speed with everything and is making everyone better at their jobs and much happier.
Jules' assistant Becky has a business degree but she is a mess until Ben steps up.
He may not know how to wake up a laptop or use a smartphone but by hokeys he is a proper man - old school, disciplined and loyal as a labrador.
These things are all absolutely fine when "The Intern" concerns itself with being totally pleasant and non-taxing with irritations like conflict or drama.
But it foolishly decides to give them a shot about halfway in.
Trouble arrives without warning in Jules' homelife.
I'm not joking - there is absolutely no hint of trouble until it arrives. Not a sniff.
She is married with a precocious, hopelessly cutesy daughter.
Her husband Matt quit a lucrative and promising marketing job to take care of the child while Jules got her business up and running.
In a head-slapping piece of contradiction Jules drunkenly rants about how lost men are.
How in one generation have men gone from Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford to what counts as men today she asks as her shoulderless moocher/hipster husband makes Play-doh cakes at home with their cute as a smurf's bum daughter.
Gosh, I wonder?
I also wonder what writer-director Meyers is trying to say with this film.
There is room for this movie to make some points about the place of modern women in the workplace and indeed the world but the script is all over the place.
It's much worse than Jules bemoaning the lack of manliness that she is inadvertently part of the cause of.
I love that have-your-cake-and-eat-it-and-everything-is-someone-elses-fault thing.
The most offensive squandering of the promise inherent in this sort of story is in how Hathaway's Jules is so utterly, utterly perfect in every way.
She is told that she can't cope with the business and must seek the help of a CEO.
(All of the candidates are men found to be sexist pigs)
It is clear that she can't cope. She knows it too.
Not only because she can't find good time to spend with her family but because she stresses over every little detail of her business and is always an hour late for meetings.
A messy desk causes a ridiculous amount of stress to her.
When Ben cleans it up he is cheered by the whole office.
(On a related note I have often felt that a range of dvd's showing men doing housework could do a roaring trade in the female market)
Clearly Jules needs help. Not because she isn't capable - the opposite in fact. She is falling victim to the huge success that saw her company hit its five year target in 9 months.
And she is in over head.
But the script will brush this point of conflict off as if it was nothing when it suits it.
The troubles at home will also be fanned away like a troublesome fly.
By diminishing the challenges that Jules faces it lessons her journey.
This movie reminds of the risible "The First Wives Club" - a movie that was lauded as a feminist comedy but was really just about a bunch of women embezzling money from the wealthy men that they had married.
Yeah... you go girl you empowered thing you.
And so it is with "The Intern".
It's a movie that bears no resemblance to reality and has absolutely nothing to say about women - or men- in the world of business or generally.
Why did it try? It was doing perfectly fine being ever so nice and fun.
I like Hathaway, De Niro and Russo a lot and their appeal notwithstanding there isn't a lot to like about this movie taken as a whole.
I enjoyed the first half as a non-taxing, very nice bit of entertainment.
Hell- parts of it were almost touching - it really is very, very nice- I can't stress it enough.
But it doesn't have the shoulders for the heavy lifting required of some of the issues it attempts to address and this movie tumbles badly under the weight of both them and a running time that should have been chopped by about thirty minutes.
A romantic subplot set up early between Becky (Scherer) and Jason (DeVine) is completely ditched despite an abundance of minutes to attend to it.
Becky and the business degree that goes unrecognised also represent a wasted angle.
"The Intern" has some fun moments and even some funny ones- mostly from the rather good supporting cast of DeVine and Pearlman - but ultimately this dives in the second half until it finally peters out with an unsatisfying whimper.
A waste of some fine acting talent.
RATING: 58/ 100
CONCLUSION: I wanted a pleasant diversion and for half of this movie I got it. From then it was all downhill. Absurdly lightweight when it tries to explore serious issues and so ridiculously unbelievable as to almost qualify as fantasy.
Running Time: 121 minutes
Rated: M - One 'F' word and some very mild sexual references
Here's a movie.
I don't mean that as high praise as in 'Now here's a goddamned movie!'
No, I mean "The Intern" is so self consciously a movie that it often defies belief.
I fully accept the notion that movies have dialogue that is often not reflective of real life.
The films of Quentin Tarantino are often praised for their naturalistic dialogue but I have never found that to be the case.
People in real life may talk about foot massages and the meaning of Madonna's song lyrics but they just don't do it in the fashion that Vincent Vega and Mr Brown do.
But it's okay... no- better than okay- it is perfect for the movies that "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" are.
People in real life also don't talk the way that Ben Whittaker (De Niro) and Jules Ostin (Hathaway) talk in "The Intern".
And if I knew what sort of movie it was trying to be I might be more accepting of it.
But I don't and I am not.
The setup for this film is that retired widower Ben Whittaker feels restless with nothing to do. He has travelled, taken up hobbies and attended lots of funerals but he needs something to keep him busy and satisfied.
So the offer of an internship for a senior at a local company that sells fashion online fits him like a glove.
(apart from his lack of tech prowess of course but details, details....)
He is assigned to the CEO - young go-getter and company founder Jules Ostin.
Jules doesn't want Ben there and is too busy running her company and learning that she may have to employ an experienced CEO to run it for her as Cameron tells her.
 |
| Jules shows Ben how to use Facebook |
Regardless - two pretty solid conflicts to base a movie off there.
"The Intern" isn't really interested in conflicts however - not to start with at least.
The first hour or more of this movie is an absolute nice-fest.
Everyone is pleasant and friendly and just lovely.
They all love Ben -even Jules eventually and specially Fiona (Rene Russo) the company masseuse and apparent Viagra substitute (watch the trailer - you'll see what I mean).
Ben is to be there for six weeks but seemingly after a couple of days he is up to speed with everything and is making everyone better at their jobs and much happier.
Jules' assistant Becky has a business degree but she is a mess until Ben steps up.
He may not know how to wake up a laptop or use a smartphone but by hokeys he is a proper man - old school, disciplined and loyal as a labrador.
These things are all absolutely fine when "The Intern" concerns itself with being totally pleasant and non-taxing with irritations like conflict or drama.
But it foolishly decides to give them a shot about halfway in.
Trouble arrives without warning in Jules' homelife.
I'm not joking - there is absolutely no hint of trouble until it arrives. Not a sniff.
She is married with a precocious, hopelessly cutesy daughter.
Her husband Matt quit a lucrative and promising marketing job to take care of the child while Jules got her business up and running.
In a head-slapping piece of contradiction Jules drunkenly rants about how lost men are.
How in one generation have men gone from Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford to what counts as men today she asks as her shoulderless moocher/hipster husband makes Play-doh cakes at home with their cute as a smurf's bum daughter.
Gosh, I wonder?
I also wonder what writer-director Meyers is trying to say with this film.
 |
| Adam DeVine, Rene Russo, Robert De Niro and Zack Pearlman |
It's much worse than Jules bemoaning the lack of manliness that she is inadvertently part of the cause of.
I love that have-your-cake-and-eat-it-and-everything-is-someone-elses-fault thing.
The most offensive squandering of the promise inherent in this sort of story is in how Hathaway's Jules is so utterly, utterly perfect in every way.
She is told that she can't cope with the business and must seek the help of a CEO.
(All of the candidates are men found to be sexist pigs)
It is clear that she can't cope. She knows it too.
Not only because she can't find good time to spend with her family but because she stresses over every little detail of her business and is always an hour late for meetings.
A messy desk causes a ridiculous amount of stress to her.
When Ben cleans it up he is cheered by the whole office.
(On a related note I have often felt that a range of dvd's showing men doing housework could do a roaring trade in the female market)
Clearly Jules needs help. Not because she isn't capable - the opposite in fact. She is falling victim to the huge success that saw her company hit its five year target in 9 months.
And she is in over head.
But the script will brush this point of conflict off as if it was nothing when it suits it.
The troubles at home will also be fanned away like a troublesome fly.
By diminishing the challenges that Jules faces it lessons her journey.
This movie reminds of the risible "The First Wives Club" - a movie that was lauded as a feminist comedy but was really just about a bunch of women embezzling money from the wealthy men that they had married.
Yeah... you go girl you empowered thing you.
And so it is with "The Intern".
It's a movie that bears no resemblance to reality and has absolutely nothing to say about women - or men- in the world of business or generally.
 |
| Jules and Becky (Scherer) |
I like Hathaway, De Niro and Russo a lot and their appeal notwithstanding there isn't a lot to like about this movie taken as a whole.
I enjoyed the first half as a non-taxing, very nice bit of entertainment.
Hell- parts of it were almost touching - it really is very, very nice- I can't stress it enough.
But it doesn't have the shoulders for the heavy lifting required of some of the issues it attempts to address and this movie tumbles badly under the weight of both them and a running time that should have been chopped by about thirty minutes.
A romantic subplot set up early between Becky (Scherer) and Jason (DeVine) is completely ditched despite an abundance of minutes to attend to it.
Becky and the business degree that goes unrecognised also represent a wasted angle.
"The Intern" has some fun moments and even some funny ones- mostly from the rather good supporting cast of DeVine and Pearlman - but ultimately this dives in the second half until it finally peters out with an unsatisfying whimper.
A waste of some fine acting talent.
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