The Intern * * *

I like Robert de Niro.  I don’t hold him in awe, nor do I think the work he has done in the last decade is that impressive. It’s merely workmanlike in my opinion, but i like him. He’s one of those actors I appreciate seeing on the screen. These days I don’t expect him to play the tough guy or the broken guy. I just expect him to be Robert de Niro acting the part that’s been given to him - but essentially remaining Robert de Niro. That’s all I expect of Robert de Niro and to be honest I think that is all he expects of himself these days. Lets face it, you don’t see much more than that from him now.

So in the latest film from  Nancy Meyers, he plays an old school corporate worker - suited up, carrying an attache, punctual and loyal to the company. He also has a few other qualities that maketh a gentleman. (I can dig that).  

We learn his wife passed a few years earlier. He is alone now and living a rather unadventurous life.  He’s bored. Learning of a "senior internship program" which an internet clothing merchandiser is obliged to run, he successfully applies and finds himself an unwelcome assistant to a boss young enough to be his daughter (or granddaughter), played by Anne Hathaway.  She virtually ignores him, but you can more or less see the story unfold before you:

Things aren’t exactly perfect on her home front, she’s challenged by the investors in her company and he soon becomes the one she can rely on. But interestingly it is not so much his elderly counsel that helps her through as his personality. She just likes his rock solid reliability.  

Director Nancy Meyer’s loves doing romance and in a way The Intern is a romance too as the two principal characters  warm to each other and develop a closeness. It’s like a romance without romance - just mutual appreciation and regard for one the other.  

Generally the critics seem to hate Nancy Meyer's work and I think this one has had a bit of panning too. But I think what Nancy does, she does well.  Plus she surprises us from time to time. I particularly admire that in this film she uses the simple human act of forgiveness to overcome a hugely complicated situation rather than the usual dramatic devices of vengeance and consequence. A few more examples of that quality would be good for all of us.

The Intern won’t thrill you but it’s got gentle humour and very likable characters, Robert does well. But I can't help wishing that the role of some kind of septuagenarian Travis Bickle would come along, so de Niro can amaze us one more time.