The Intern (2015)

Elevator Pitch: Ben, a retired New York businessman, living alone due to the death of his wife, finds he is bored and applies for a position as a “senior intern” in an on line cloths store, run by Jules, a talented young mother. Due to her work she realises her marriage is in trouble and so she looks for a CEO. Meanwhile Ben accidentally becomes her driver, and later her confidant, dispensing words of wisdom and supporting her and her family. Ben also begins to form a relationship with the company masseuse, who is only nine years younger than he is.

Content: There is no sex or nudity, but a bit of drinking at key moments. Ben does Ti Chi (so my wife tells me), but it is not really a high point in the day. He joins up with Jules’s company, and when he sees her driver taking a swig from a hip flask, replaces him as the driver, so quite a bit of time in the company Audi. Much time spent in the open plan office building full of young people with arresting pictures on the Apple laptops.  Ben sort of becomes part of Jules’s family, and at times he is massaged (really) by Fiona.

A View: This movie apparently has Nancy Meyers fingerprints all over it. Robert De Nero, after a lifetime playing threatening mafia people, probably quite enjoyed being a cuddly widower. It was moderately well liked and made money, but I thought it was terrible. Mostly the young people in the office were extremely irritating. Some feminist critics did not like it, possibly because the old fart saves the day – hardly a spoiler, it almost writes itself once the basic premise is put in place. So one of those films you could allow to play while doing something else, but don’t pay any money for it.

Additional Info: The film was originally intended to feature Tina Fey and Michael Caine.