It seems that in todays working world, the intern is the new entry-level job. Even with the great recession almost over, the millennial generation faces a new world of hard debt and technological competition. They also face a high number of equally qualified candidates that are more then willing to work for wage, and even for nothing, for the hope that they may receive an offer for a better job within the company their working for. My second job was also an intern position that paid nothing in exchange for experience. I didn't stay with the company, but I learned a lot about working in the Hollywood industry and even in an office environment.
Why are a lot of people willing to work for free? Perhaps with the way the economy is recovering, more companies cannot offer as many paying jobs, yet most people are still intrigued by having a particular business on their resume, with another thing to boast about. Who wouldn't want something like Amazon, Apple, or Google within their credentials? Tech businesses are the rage and everyone seems to be trying their hardest to get in just so they could say they were in. The Intern boasts it's own account of a trainee who may be a few years older, but just as able bodied and ambitious as the next guy.
Former phone book executive Ben Whittaker (played by Robert De Niro) has traveled the world and spent his retirement trying to relax and enjoy new hobbies like Tai Chi. Yet now that he is widower, he still feels empty. Rather then sulk, he takes a new kind of intern program that recruits seniors. His impressive resume and video resume lands him a job for a growing e-commerce fashion company that's in the same building that Ben had worked in for many years.
His boss is the positive, but still intimidating Jules Ostin (played by Anne Hathaway) who find that Ben has been assigned to her. At first, she assumes that he is too old to contribute a whole lot and give him easy work. Only when her chauffeur becomes drunk and Ben takes over that Jules starts to warm up. Ben engages further with her business and even with her family.
Jules in informed by her board that she should find someone else to act as C.E.O. for her company to make the business more professional as it had grown in such a fast eighteen months. Ben does his best to help Jules while she contemplates her decision.
On the surface, The Intern sounds like the kind of movie that would be easy to cater to older audiences with it's wholly positive attitude. For the most it is, but part of me enjoyed it a lot more then I thought I would. A lot of that has to do with Robert De Niro who still puts a lot into his role. It may be no Taxi Driver or Cape Fear, but he still seems to be saying a lot with how to relaxed the millennial generation has become.
Story wise, The Intern is nothing of a challenge; it's your nice story about the misunderstanding of someone's skills while making a friend. I'm still on board as the movie's tone relies on the nice chemistry that De Niro and Hathaway share. I'm really glad they don't attempt any hint of romance and keep them as friends. A racy art house movie might have taken on that notion, but director Nancy Meyers knew what her audience wanted. In short format, The Intern is a cute movie. It's likable and while not a hilarious movie, did manage to get a few laughs out of me.
I'll give this six and a half e-commerce sites out of ten. The Intern shouldn't have trouble finding an audience. It's charm should win most people over and maybe De Niro's points may get through to any young people watching.
