Movie Notes: The Surprisingly Nice 'The Intern' (2015)

The story is about Ben (Rober De Niro) who is now retired after working for 40 years in a phone book company. Retirement has given him time to travel and start new hobbies which as he claims "believe me I've tried everything". However he was starting to get bored with his routine and confronted more with the inevitability of death as he attend funerals one after the other. 

"Believe me I've tried everything.."

Upon seeing an ad about a Senior Internship program by a start-up tech company run by Jules (Anne Hathaway). Despite having no solid knowledge on technology he nailed every step of the recruitment process from a video application to the series of interviews. He was assigned to Jules and despite her  reluctance, Ben quickly becomes close and beloved in office including Jules. Later on, Ben would help Jules in the course of the story as she faced losing leadership from her own company and hidden marital woes.

There are many lessons one can learn about relationships, work ethics and being a true gentleman in this movie. Ben represented a dying breed (at least this is what the movie claims) of professional and gentlemen. Jules even noted this while they were at a bar by saying we often call guys as boys and not men anymore. 

There were a lot of laughable moments which was mostly because of the generation gap between Ben and the rest of the characters. The comedy of the film ranges from puns to slightly erotic, because after all it is still a boys dominated mix of characters.

In the climax of the movie, where Jules decides whether to relinquish control of her company as a desperate attempt to save her marriage comes the feminist take of the story. This is where everything takes the safest and most convenient way which I felt I needed also. The movie was so lighthearted and warm that it didn't need to complicate itself towards the end.

The ending was just right, not too cheesy and it provided room for the audience to figure out what they want.