The Intern

My favorite Nancy Meyer's movies are "Something's Gotta Give" and "It's Complicated." The writer-director has a way of working with female actors over 50 that yield performances that are both hilarious and poignant.

Unfortunately, "The Intern," Meyer's latest feature, doesn't have Diane Keaton or Meryl Streep. Instead, we get Robert DeNiro in a congenial, if tentative, turn as Ben, the central "older" character. And as much as I liked Ben, I could not bring myself to love him the way everyone onscreen does and the audience must. And trust me, he's written and directed to be lovable. But something about Bobby D's approach refuses to capitulate to what Meyers so desperately wanted. Either that or he just didn't care enough.

Cast opposite DeNiro is Anne Hathaway, who we are asked to believe has a problem with old people -- mostly because her mother's such a bitch. (When told, "I love you, by her daughter, she responds, "Thank you.") But, seriously, we're supposed to think sweet little Anne Hathaway hates on the elderly? Why not just ask us to buy her as a prostitute? (Shoot! Too soon?)

The premise focuses on widowed 70-year-old Ben (DeNiro), who used to make phone books but is now retired. He lives well, but he's bored. (Incidentally just how he managed to sock away so much money is one of the mysteries that go unanswered here.)

"There's a hole in my life and I need to fill it. Soon," his voiceover makes clear. So he applies for a "senior" internship at an online fashion startup, About the Fit, run by overnight sensation Jules Ostin (spunky Hathaway), who likes to ride around the office on her bike, which I guess is supposed to show what a free spirit she is, but I just found it annoying.

Ben must answer a battery of interview questions by twentysomethings before he is finally hired. "What was your major? Do you remember?" "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" These are just a couple of examples.

The trouper is then assigned to Jules, who may be capricious but is seriously not having an old man intern. That is, until he begins to fix her broken life at the office and even at home, where her seriously bland husband (Anders Holm) is cheating on her.

As you have probably put together, Ben and Jules forge a father/daughter-like relationship where she learns important life lessons and he, well, gets to babysit her too-adorable 9-year-old daughter (no, really too-adorable).

Meyers is a smart and witty writer ("Sitting is the new smoking"), but she follows the Hollywood formula a bit too closely, so we are given a series of plot and character complications that must all be fixed before the credits roll.

In addition, the game ensemble features a slew of wearisome, underdeveloped "office" characters. The only supporting player to make any splash is Linda Lavin, in a criminally small and limited part. Her character could have been a great romantic interest for Ben, if only Meyers looked beyond the obvious.

Which brings me to Rene Russo, whom I love, but who is given little to do as Ben's eventual love interest (beyond an erection-inducing massage here and there). Russo may be in her early '60s, but she looks 50, which means she's too young for DeNiro who looks his age (72)! Can we start changing that dynamic, Hollywood?

After Ben becomes everyone's surrogate father, Meyers introduces an oddball caper scene that involves stealing a computer. Strange and out of place, I actually welcomed the refreshing nature of the sequence, and wished the film had more moments of originality.

The film does look fantastic, and moves briskly. My only tech complaint is the overly sentimental and cloying score by Theodore Shapiro.

"The Intern" is certainly entertaining, and it did have me smiling for two hours and then wondering why the hell I was smiling so much.