Nancy Meyers has fumbled and disappointed with her latest instalment in an otherwise fairly decent career. Her movies have been fun and OK for the most part, they’re not going to profoundly affect anyone’s life, nor are they going to generate mass hate and resentment. Her movies enable you to leave your mind at the door and just go with the flow. More often than not, you will become invested in the main character.
Sadly for Meyers, The Intern is a disappointment. Robert De Niro is… can I say phoning it in? As Ben, the 70 years old intern, he is loveable and commendable. It’s an easy role for someone of De Niro’s talents to portray, but the script and plot lacks so much that even De Niro’s talents cannot save this movie. I adored Ben, and would love to have the opportunity to work in an office with someone who is so cool at that age.
As for Anne Hathaway, she’s… grating on my nerves? Over exposure, it’s a sad thing when it happens, and it has definitely happened with Hathaway. I have always enjoyed her work, she’s talented and quirky looking enough to not threaten women over the world with the way she looks. But as the boss in this movie, I feel that she’s ill-cast, or perhaps, it’s the grating millennial language which just seems so out of place for someone who isn’t 22.
The Intern is about a 70 year old retiree (De Niro) joining an online eCommerce company own by Hathaway’s Jules, as a senior intern. It’s a story about second chances, friendship and development. The premise has promise, and with the two leads could easily have made a decent script work. And that’s where this movie failed. The script was lazy, rushed and neatly wrapped up at the end. Disregarding character development and plot, the movie winds up in a very unsatisfying manner.
Clichés are littered throughout this entire movie. You leave your mind at the door and just keep it that way. If you think even remotely, you will become frustrated and want to throw something at the wasted talents of De Niro, Hathaway and Rene Russo.
Yes, Rene Russo is in this movie, her role is a small supporting role, and that’s rather frustrating too. Russo is a beautifully talented actress (Nightcrawler, The Thomas Crown Affair)
The script feels as though Meyers googled ‘current urban tech slang’ and used everything that google returned, and made Hathaway spit it all out. I can only roll my eyes as a viewer.
This movie feels unfinished and ill-conceived. I wonder whether “creative differences” were notes, or whether the script had millennials consulting on it. They have definitely alienated their core audience with the script.
I will commend Meyers for the introduction, it’s lazy, but straight away, you cut through the setting events and really like De Niro’s Ben. Hathaway’s Jules introduction is not as likeable, it’s just way too try hard. Meyers is not in touch with the tech scene, and the constant Apple product placement is just way too obvious. And this is where Meyers starts to fall and show that she is out of her movie making depth.
Rating: 4/10, this movie is simple and underutilises the lead actors. The script is out of place and ‘cute’ moments, a little forced and contrived.
See it again: No, I have to wash my hair.
Worth my time: Maybe, it tells me to not try and write a script about an industry I know nothing about.
Take my mother: Nope, she has better things to do, what, I don’t know, but I’m sure she does.
Talking points: Forced dialogue that seems oddly out of place, and a plot that’s filled with clichés and plot holes.
Annoyance factor: 9/10, quite a lot in this movie. Most of it surrounds the way De Niro wasn’t utilised properly, and how cutesy Hathaway was made to be. How the movie wrapped up.
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