1106. The Intern (2015)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo

Director: Nancy Meyers

Running Time: 121 mins

The Intern is an American film about a busybody entrepreneur going through a tough time in her personal and business life. However, after taking part in a local senior intern programme, she finds solace in an older man with a fully positive outlook on life.

This is the sort of perfectly light-hearted and fluffy comedy that you can watch to really get your spirits up on a sick day or something. Thanks to impressive performances and decent chemistry between the leads, this is a consistently upbeat film throughout.

However, whilst you may get a good, pleasant watch out of this, it still remains that The Intern has a very bland and dull story that makes for very little intrigue or effective emotional drama. As a result, there’s nothing really keeping you interested in the plot despite the positive atmosphere.

The film is written and directed by Nancy Meyers, who brought you such romantic comedies as The Holiday, Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated and What Women Want, so the main thing to know going into this film is that if you liked those rom-coms, which not too many people really did, you’ll definitely love The Intern.

However, know that this is not in any way a romantic comedy. Yes, it’s got the whole fluffy vibe of a typically generic rom-com, but the lack of a romance story is actually one of its blessings, not forcefully pushing together two celebrities into an unconvincing romance like so many modern movies unfortunately do.

Robert De Niro, in one of his best performances of the 21st Century, plays a senior citizen with one of the happiest and most genuinely positive personalities you’ll ever see. It’s a real treat, then, to see a film with someone that is so believably upbeat, because it can really lift your spirits amidst the crowd of darker, or just worse films out there.

The story follows De Niro’s character as he forms a strong friendship (note friendship, not romantic relationship), with Anne Hathaway, who plays a young woman struggling to cope with various problems in her life. Although Hathaway isn’t as good as De Niro in this, the two do have very likeable chemistry on screen, and are a delight to watch bond as the movie goes on, bringing yet another positive aspect to this hugely happy film, so, despite the very bland story, this film gets a 6.8 from me.