Recommendation: See
A highly unusual program gives senior citizen Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) the opportunity to work as an intern in a chic, modern NYC startup. The office is filled with 20-somethings, putting Ben completely out of place.
Throughout his time with the company, Ben takes his age and life experience, which would be a disadvantage in a fast-paced, digital environment and uses it to help the struggling 20-somethings with life problems. Among other things, he teaches them the importance of calling someone instead of just emailing or texting them, why you should always carry a handkerchief in your pocket, and why there is value in dressing nice even if the dress code says you don’t have to.
Ben is assigned to be a personal intern to the founder and CEO of the startup, Jules Ostin (Anne Hathway). At first, she is indifferent toward Ben. She feels she doesn’t need an intern, let alone an old man, getting in her way. However, when she is faced with the possibility of being ousted as CEO due to her lack of experience, she sees an opportunity. She begins to keep Ben around and include him in her business and picks up advice from his 40 years of business experience. Over time, she finds Ben’s grandfatherly influence helping her the way it helped her employees. She gradually becomes friends with him and decides to keep him around not just because she feels she can benefit from his experience, but because she enjoys his company. When she burns the midnight oil, as she often does, she discovers it is nice to have someone else around to talk to. Even with all his experience, Ben also learns a thing or two from Jules and the other employees about the digital life. At one point, Jules helps him set up his own Facebook page.
This is a nice, feel good movie, which will keep audiences engaged from start to finish. It is not a predictable cookie-cutter movie. There are twists and turns and surprises along the way to keep things fresh. The character development is well done, the relationships between the characters feel natural and believable. At the beginning of the movie, Jules comes across as a stereotypical, too-busy-to-care millennial, but by the end, she has substance and does in fact care about the people around her.
While this is drastically different from his roles in The Deer Hunter, Once Upon a Time in America, and Raging Bull, fans of Robert De Niro will enjoy this film. De Niro is one of those actors who ages well and adapts to whatever role he is given. As usual, Anne Hathaway is delightful and shows just how talented she is. Zack Pearlman provides comic relief as a clueless intern who learns a lot about adult life from De Niro’s Whittaker. Anyone with experience working as an intern will certainly find this movie relatable.
The take away lesson is that no matter how old and experienced you are or how important your job title is, there is still much to learn about life. We are all still learning and figuring things out. Nobody has it entirely figured out.
Reeling Reviews 