This month’s freshest release, “The Intern,” has many reasons that will make you smile. The movie showcases the life of a 70-year-old, widowed and retired man, Ben Whittaker (De Niro), who wishes to simply keep going in life and not “hang his boots up” just to avoid being alone and having nothing to do. In a bid to do so, he finds himself applying to be a “Senior Intern” at a company that is owned by young, beautiful and dedicated Jules Austin (Anne Hathaway).
The rest of the movie falls into how Ben handles the pressure of working under Jules, how they become friends and end up teaching each other that living life is much more than just taking breaths.
“The Intern” manages to take film-making in a different direction, but not to a different scale. Every single character, regardless of its importance or time, manages to make a mark. Hats off to the director, Nancy Meyers, who manages to add a story to each minor character, which helps the audience understand why the quirky antics of each character exist. An example of this is Jules’ assistant, Becky, who has a tendency to panic because of stress, but somehow manages to end up in a stressful or awkward situation involuntarily.
There are moments in the script where one feels that situations that transpire in the story were not necessary, but taking them away would’ve changed the way the audience looks at the characters. For example, in one of the scenes, Ben looks at his dinner and calls his co-worker inviting her for dinner. The vulnerability of Ben realizing that he did not enjoy his meals alone, and so many more scenes, will make you smile and cry at the same time.
Hathaway and De Niro are on top of their games when it comes to convincing us of their roles. There is a fair balance of respect for each other on-screen unlike any kind of effort to outshine each other.
If you think that the movie is a romance, then you are wrong. If you think it is a drama, you are wrong again. It’s a comedy about making friends and handling relationships.
“The Intern” entertains and teaches us the importance of looking at your co-worker and smiling, the importance of giving your friends and family a call after a long day of work and, lastly, it sends a message about how important it is to realize that even though you come into and leave this world alone, it’s always a question of who will be there to bid you a goodbye when you leave. All of this is hidden under the fact that it is never too late to learn anything.
All in all, if you still haven’t seen “The Intern,” you should take the time and head over to the nearest movie theater. Not by yourself, but with a friend that you love, adore and would not want to lose. This movie is not something one should see alone.
