Hot Take: It’s a warm, harmless film with characters you’ll find very likable. The charisma of DeNiro and the charm of Hathaway make it easy to ignore the late collapse of the story. The Intern is cute and cuddly and is likely to be crowd pleasing but not much else.
If The Intern were ice cream, it would be vanilla. Not that there’s anything wrong with vanilla. My favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla. The first half of the movie is much better than the second half. But writer/director Nancy Meyers makes a film so inoffensive and harmless, it’s hard to be critical.
If you saw the trailer, nothing that happens in The Intern will surprise you. If you watch the first act and have the ability to pause the movie, I could have you write down five things you think will happen and if you don’t nail three, you don’t watch enough movies.
This is not a great movie but it is an enjoyable one. Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway are as satisfying as you’d expect and have great chemistry. The supporting cast is the whipped cream, cherry and nuts that only enhance the sweetness of this very vanilla movie dessert.
“Spoiler Free” Pros
- Spot the Hat Tips to DeNiro’s Past Performances
I spotted two but there’s likely more. Of the two, the one to Taxi Driver is the most obvious. - Personality Goes A Long Way
There’s a lot of charisma to be had in The Intern. - It Might Be the Most Harmless Movie I’ve Seen In Years
There’s plenty of things you can kind of take issue with but it’s really hard to pick on the movie. It would just be mean.
“Spoiler Free” Cons
- 20 Minutes Too Long
It’s hard to imagine there’s not a way to cut down the length of the movie by 20 minutes and still have an acceptable, viewable cut. - The Ending?
The Intern gets exposed at the end as it wraps up quickly and poorly. It is the biggest contributor to making this very enjoyable film average at best.