MOVIE REVIEW | The Intern (2015)

The Intern (2015)

I had high hopes for the film thinking that Anne Hathaway would pull up another Les Miserables sort of acting slash Devil Wears Prada; plus Robert De Niro has some filmography on his sleeves. However, I was disappointed. The film unfortunately was not able to deliver. Just couldn't.

Rating: 5/10

The Intern, starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway is a 2015 light comedy about an E-Commerce company hiring senior citizens as interns. The story revolves around Jules, the managing director of the online fashion store, and Ben, the senior intern.

Perhaps it was the striking similarity between "The Devil Wears Prada" plot that makes an audience half expectedly wishing Anne's character to be more villainous (in fact there wasn't much villan-y in the film). And that Robert De Niro would somehow turn into the character of Andrea, the deranged and abused secretary of Miranda Priestley.


But there wasn't much action in the movie so to speak.

The narrative dragged on without much surprise for the audience. The conflicts were very light and somehow did not add much meat to the whole overall concept of boss meets intern, intern meets boss. No, the plot did not work out.

Anne Hathaway was (as in her short stint during her Oscar Awards presentor) trying her best to salvage what was left in an otherwise boring character of Jules. There wasn't much depth to the character, and many a time I would catch Anne seemingly herself, rather than her character.

Robert De Niro on the other hand was too big an actor for the role of Ben. It was a shame that he had to play such a part when he could have done more. It was like, as an audience, you would know tha Robert has so much to give; but since the role required him to be the calm, reserved, trying hard to be funny Ben, he just couldn't do much.

Emma Stone and Bill Murray, Better Fitted

What could have done differently is if the movie did not bank on the profitability of the A-listers. They could have instead chosen lesser known actors like Emma Stone instead of Anne Hathaway; and Bill Murray for Robert De Niro. At least we wouldn't compare them to similar roles.

And perhaps, if the narrative was twisted in the guise of "Silver Linings Playbook" / "Steve Jobs" it would be more interesting. "The Intern" is so flat, very predictable and has nothing new to offer.