FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Intern
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Andy Devine
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min

What It Is: Ben Whittaker (De Niro) is a 70-year-old widower. He is also retired after working for the company responsible for phone books for over 35 years. Ben, however, finds retirement cumbersome. He gets bored by the lack of things he fills his day with. When an opportunity for a senior intern at a blossoming internet company opens up it seems perfect for him. You see that term senior is quite literal, and the septuagenarian Whittaker is perfect for the void.

What We Think: Mediocre and saccharin as it gets. Meyers does not do anything particularly interesting. De Niro showed me enough that he actually cared, this might not seem like a lot, but when it comes to his latest films it seemed like he was there strictly to cash a check. He’s having fun here and that is nice to see. It is about as sugary sweet as a film can get. When something bad does happen the stakes are never really there and that is mainly because you’re never meant to believe any of it matters.

Our Grade: C+, Sure you can watch this film, especially with your grandmother or mother. Hell, they’ll probably enjoy it. This one skews a bit older. If you’re a bit older and I’m a moron and you hated it let me know. I really wished throughout this that I had cared about what was happening. It had some endearing moments, but not enough to really make it memorable. That’s sort of the problem. I mentioned earlier it was sugary cinema, and like sugar once the flavor goes away it just leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth. So I’ll recommend this slightly, but if your diabetic I’ll caution you on this one.