Critics rating: 3 Stars

Cast:  Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Adam DeVine

Direction: Nancy Meyers

Produced: Suzanne Farwell, Nancy Meyers.

Written: Nancy Meyers

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 121 Mins

The Intern begins by being poignant and funny at the same time. Ben Whitaker (Robert De Niro) is a lonely, retired widower who tried to fill the void with travel, hobbies and language-learning. It is all in vain as the feeling of having nowhere to go when he returns home hits him “like a ton of bricks”. He had spent his life working for a company that prints phone books, something that lacks utility in today’s world, much like himself.

One day he finds a flyer. The clothing site About The Fit is looking for senior citizen interns in an outreach programme. In an ironic pre-requisite, the candidates are required to upload a video of themselves on either YouTube or Vimeo in .avi or any other suitable video format. “I don’t even know what language this is,” says his puzzled friend when Ben asks her. In continuation of the fuzzy “aww” spirit, Ben gives a heartfelt video description and it gets him selected.

Once there, he is put as a personal intern for Founder and CEO Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), who is purportedly difficult to deal with. That is an odd bit of characterisation, since even at her worst, most-stressed, Jules is polite and gracious, nothing like the Miranda Priestly presence that would invite dread. She would like to keep it all together but she can’t. Her professional is not going great. Jules has been advised to appoint a CEO in her stead, someone with more experience to handle the growth of the very company (from 25 to 220 employees in 18 months) she created

Her husband Matt (Anders Holm) is a good father to their daughter Paige (an exceptionally adorable JoJo Kushner) but even when you see his interaction with Jules, there is something strained under the tenderness. It’s realistic and comes across beautifully in the scene where Jules breaks down while talking to Ben about what she perceives as her failure as a wife and mother.

All this we witness from the kindly, twinkling eyes of Ben, whom Robert De Niro portrays with endearing, cuddlesome teddy-bear warmth. Anne Hathaway is the perfect foil with her frenetic energy and calmer moments like when she tries to help him set up his Facebook account.

The Intern is not a perfect film. Indeed, it could have done with more subplots (Adam DeVine was under-utilised and Nat Wolff’s was a wasted cameo), instead of a single-minded focus on the unlikely twosome. However, it is an enjoyable one-time watch with a lot of little moments that will surprise you.