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The Intern (2015), PG-13, ★★★

Robert "Raging Bull" De Niro is Anne Hathaway's Intern?
An internship is critical at any field to experience what is like to see what every job of that field is doing and why they are an important asset to the team and to the company. It is also a great strategy to build a resume but learning the experience is what it's all about. But, the notion of taking a seasoned businessman under a younger businesswoman's wing is a very particular concept for a film because we learn to see what sort of advice each person give to another. However, the chemistry, not a romantic chemistry, but a working relationship and potentially a "father-daughter" chemistry between Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway is what worked for me.

Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) plays an owner and CEO of an e-commerce fashion company. She has two problems and they correlate to each other in her business life and personal life. Her business investors think that they need a more experienced CEO to run the company and that gives her more work to do to push her confidence to the limit. Her confidence to run her business her way makes her absent to spend time with her family consisting of her husband, Matt (Anders Holm) and their daughter, Paige (JoJo Kushner).

When basically asked what to do to save the business, she agrees to a community outreach program where seniors will intern at the firm. One of the new interns is Ben Whitaker (Robert De Niro), a widower and a retired phone directory executive. Jules is skeptical of him at first but warms up to him. Ben also acts like a gruff Scrooge around the younger adults (Adam DeVine, Zack Pearlman, Peter Vack and Christina Scherer) but everybody starts to respect him as he also helps turn the spirit of the office around. He starts to ask out Fiona (Rene Russo), the in-house massage therapist, and sort of develops a romantic relationship with her. But, most of the time, Ben is devoted to helping Jules by getting rid of his alcoholic chauffeur and cleaning up some a myriad of messy clothes. Hey, it is a fashion company, overall.

Hathaway is well-acquainted at her business.
This is a harmless and light comedy, no more, no less. There are no big laughs but I chuckled at some moments in which they make a few jokes towards De Niro's age. It is sort of a one-joke premise but even though the premise is predictable and formulaic, it is the charming lead performances that carry the workload of a light comedy through. De Niro's character takes pride in what he does to help Hathaway and also with the younger employees. It also shows, not entirely, the aspect of independent female characters collaborating with intelligence. There's another intern that is a wasted cliche but it's very miniscule.

Robert De Niro is right for this role: he's like a sweet grandfather that gives you advice and anecdotes about his life. He does not dial down to a cheesy one-note grump but he has some background personality. He does what he does best: he acts with his eyes and has some comedic mannerisms that Nancy Meyers, the director, does not turn away. Anne Hathaway is sort of in her zone and kind of has deja vu as she comes back into this genre in which fashion is the background of her company. She previously played an assistant to Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada. This is like the movie in which would happen to her character from Prada if she were committed. (Spoiler Alert: To those who have not seen it.)

Meyers, who has sort of an uneven resume of films such as Something's Gotta Give, What Women Want and It's Complicated, pays attention to the characters in which how they develop and go through tough situations and humorous situations, in which one scene in particular is a dumb scene in which they attempt humor and misses completely. The first two-thirds is quite solid but comes down to a hackneyed climactic situation regarding a marriage situation. It boggles down to a cliched afterthought. I would have cut 10-15 minutes of that portion of the movie, but, nevertheless, it is a promising light film that does not offer much insight, but a crowd-pleaser with two charming  performances carrying it.

***

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