The Intern

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Nancy Meyers/Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Linda Lavin and Celia Weston

I'm wondering if The Intern can actually be called a movie because what it resembles more is a dull pilot for a sitcom that has little hope of being picked up by a network. It is so innocuous and free of actual conflict it could be mistaken for a soft-focus T.V. commercial peddling Alzheimer's medication. Of course one doesn't pay to see any Nancy Meyer movie expecting a psychologically dark, Bergmanesque drama; one expects the cloying taste of a caramel apple dipped in chocolate with a powdered sugar coating. How producers hornswoggled Warner Brothers into laying down $35 million for this swill might make for a diverting movie of its own. After seeing the film, one wonders where the money went. I suppose a third of the budget could have been apportioned to the salaries of its two stars; Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway because the film doesn't look like it was made for half that price.

De Niro plays Ben, a retired widower who answers an ad for senior intern program at a fashion company run by Jules (Anne Hathaway); a young entrepreneur whose start-up has achieved considerable success. Accepted into the program, Ben arrives at the company headquarters dressed in a suit, which contrasts dramatically with the casual, twenty-something office attire. Every male on the staff seems to wear identical clothes, which is a uniform in itself: open, button-up shirt with a t-shirt underneath and jeans. I hardly saw one exception to this fashion trend the movie entire. I guess guys under 30 wear nothing else--at least in Meyers' eyes.

Sitting between two young men; one of whom is also an intern, Ben quickly makes friends and becomes acquainted with their problems.

Ben is soon assigned to assist Jules, which at first rankles her assistant Becky (Christina Scherer), whose frazzled state is the result of being under-confident and unorganized. After coolly greeting Ben, she offers him advice as to how to make a first impression with Jules. She tells him to blink; being that her boss finds people who don't creepy (how many people don't blink?). This leads to an unfunny sight gag where Ben blinks rapidly in Jules' presence. No further mention is made of the blinking in the movie, which is probably fortunate for the audience.

The initial awkwardness between the two stems from conspicuous differences of age and a dearth of tasks to assign Ben. Ben finds he has little to do as Jules assistant but he stays late to ensure she has help when she needs it. Though Jules is slightly perplexed by Ben at first, she slowly warms to his presence after a brief episode where she requests he be reassigned. As their time together grows, Jules learns a few things about Ben; like his substantial business acumen. His 40 years of experience as a company VP is supposed to make him an invaluable resource to Jules.

Showing initiative, Ben begins to assume more responsibilities, such as taking on the duty of her chauffeur when he discovers the regular driver drinking on the job. As he motors Jules to various appointments, he in turn learns much about her life and becomes acquainted with her daughter and her stay-at-home husband. In becoming more closely connected to Jules, Ben sees the clash between Jules' professional and home lives, which leave her little time in which to devote to her family.

In order for Jules to focus on and implement her ideas at work, the unpleasant prospect of having a CEO run her company becomes a concern. Knowing a CEO could assume more control than Jules wants to yield, the search becomes fruitless. Meanwhile, Ben proves to be both an indispensable assistant and wise counsel and as one might expect; a trusted friend.

As the demands of work and home become impossible for Jules to reconcile, a new crisis emerges when Ben sees her husband kissing a woman. Faced with the harrowing prospect of telling Jules, Ben finds she has known about it all along.

One doesn't need the Oracle of Delphi to know where the story will go. It is also readily apparent how Ben and Jules' relationship will develop.

In sitting through Meyers film, it is necessary to overlook implausibilities, such as Ben becoming the beloved of all on Jules' staff. In this age; where everyone over fifty in the job place faces permanent irrelevance, it's impossible to imagine a start-up company troubling itself with senior interns. I've never heard of it but if such company initiatives do exist, then I stand corrected. I also find it unlikely that the young people would have much patience for someone of Ben's years working in their midst. In real life, Ben would most likely suffer asphyxiating condescension.
It seems inevitable--and improbable--that the young men in the office would begin to mimic Ben's dress or go as far as to buy a vintage briefcase just like his. Is it also inevitable that Ben will offer sage advice to a young, male colleague about how to win a female co-worker's hand? Of course; a 70 year-old intern has the answers to everyone's problems.

If the film can be said to have a virtue, its Meyers' willingness to address the career/kids dilemma many women face and the marital problems that are its fallout.

De Niro's character is limited to one facial expression, which he seems to wear often; a tight-lipped, goofy grin, which imparts a dull, benign, avuncular manner that leaves him with few interpretive options. The character isn't much of a character; just a clutch of cliches borne of wishful thinking. Hathaway's Jules is more of challenge though hardly much more. It is her magnetic presence and arresting beauty that disguise the script's shortcomings. The fact that she is eminently watchable steers the film away from the abyss of slogdom (if Kate Hudson had been cast in this role, the film would have been torturous). Poor Rene Russo looked like she was photobombing the film; her role was a few crumbs attached by sewing thread.

Meyer's film arrives at an inauspicious time. With Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs and Ramin Bahrani's grim 99 Homes poised for wide release, one can see Nancy Meyers' film as a hopeless and frail misfit in the fall schedule. It might have kept better company with the summer blockbusters. As it is, The Intern just takes up space and sits there...kind of like an elderly intern.