The Intern, written, directed and produced by Nancy Meyers is a story of a 70 year old retired-widower, Ben Whittaker played by none other than Robert De Niro, who takes up a job of an intern at an online fashion website, owned by the talented and young Jules Ostin, portrayed by Anne Hathaway.
Ben, struggling through boredom and loneliness post his retirement, bags a job as a senior intern in a fast growing online clothing shop, About the Fit. With everyone in the office young and inexperienced along with the owner of the company, Jules, Ben is clearly the odd-one-out, but one that the company needs.
After a long period of just smiling and keeping out of everyone’s way, he finally gets the attention of Jules and guides her into better decision-making skills both in office and home. Jules is a caring, talented and smart entrepreneur who took her company to great heights and a massive success in a very short period of time. Her stay-at-home husband Matt is a perfect partner but has his own shortcomings.
De Niro’s character is very disparate from his other characters which he usually plays, a calm and straightforward regular guy who has achieved something good in life. He perfectly blends with the “young generation”, often teaching them some of his own ways too in the run.
Ben is competent and alert and tries hard to be of service to Jules and guide her in the right way possible. Eventually, she looks up to him for guidance and a trusted friend, with whom she could share anything.
Ben came as a saviour for the company and Jules in particular, because of the challenging turning point in her life. The investors, though happy with the company’s success and profits, wanted Jules to take up an outsider as the CEO of the company. Jules, though reluctant of the idea, interviews many individuals to be the CEO. Also, she struggles with her responsibilities as a wife and mother often losing the balance between being a successful entrepreneur and a good mother.
“Are we really still critical of working moms?”
The most wonderful thing about the movie and particularly Ben is that, though he comes as someone who helps Jules in various aspects of running a business, it is always in the spirit of sharing knowledge and not correcting her of her own ways. He looks up to Jules, admires her of her talents and skills, but also leads her to the correct path when her life becomes chaotic.
“You should feel nothing but great about what you’ve done, and I’d hate to see you let anyone take that away from you.”
The performances given by Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway are no doubt exceptionally well. It gives a soothing feeling to watch Robert De Niro in Ben’s character with all the experience and debonair attitude. Anne, playing the role of a career oriented woman, has completely justified the character with her performance.
The Intern is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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