WASHINGTON — Nancy Meyers may be the closest voice we have to the late Nora Ephron (“Sleepless in Seattle”) with an adult charm in the vein of James L. Brooks (“As Good As It Gets”).
After sharing a screenplay Oscar nomination for “Private Benjamin” (1980), Meyers parlayed writing credits on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (1986) and “Father of the Bride” (1991) into a directing career with the Lindsay Lohan remake of “The Parent Trap” (1998). She followed with a string of solid efforts starring Hollywood royalty: “What Women Want” (2000) with Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt and Marisa Tomei; “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003) with Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves; “The Holiday” (2006) with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jude Law; and her Golden-Globe nominated “It’s Complicated” (2009) casting Meryl Streep in a love triangle with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.
If you liked at least two or three of those movies, you’ll enjoy her sixth directorial effort, “The Intern,” which arrives after a six-year hiatus. This time, Meyers introduces us to a 70-year-old Manhattan widower named Ben Whittaker (Robert DeNiro), who forgoes retirement to become a senior intern at a Brooklyn online fashion site, founded and run by the hardworking Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway).
While the premise may seem high concept in all the wrong ways, it becomes so much more in the hands of its two Oscar winners, who have floored us from “Les Miserables” (2012) to “Raging Bull” (1980). When you have a far-fetched concept, you need convincing conduits to pull it off, and DeNiro and Hathaway do their damnedest to steer this one toward the sweet and away from the saccharine.
Ironically, this fruitful pairing almost didn’t happen. The project was originally meant for Tina Fey and Michael Caine at Paramount Pictures before moving to Warner Bros. with Reese Witherspoon, who was eventually replaced by Hathaway. These behind-the-scenes maneuvers ultimately worked out for the better, as Hathaway proves to be the perfect vehicle for the heroine’s ambitions.
Hathaway infuses a genuine, beating heart into an otherwise cookie-cutter role of the formulaic feminist struggling with work-life balance. It’s largely a credit to Hathaway that we feel her inner anguish over whether to hire a C.E.O. to run the very company she built — just so she can spend more time with her stay-at-home husband (Anders Holm) and adorable daughter (JoJo Kushner).
When surprising plot points take the script into unexpected directions, we similarly feel the weight of Hathaway’s new reality, placing us in her shoes with a “what would you do” decision. Yet it’s DeNiro who really sells this new conflict, saying so much with his eyes without saying a word with his lips. The moment the two of them confront the “secret,” we’ve sufficiently bought into the dilemma.
While these dramatic DeNiro moments remind us of so many “Goodfellas” slow-mo stare-downs, the movie also reminds us of DeNiro’s supreme comic talent, making us laugh just by blinking.
This is the comic DeNiro that’s bubbled under the tough-guy surface ever since “The King of Comedy” (1982), the same sly guy who cracked us up with circles of trust in “Meet the Parents” (2000). As he puts away his “Taxi Driver” (1976) isolation to become Hathaway’s impromptu chauffeur in “The Intern,” we wonder how Travis Bickle would’ve reacted to back seat texting. “You talkin’ to me?” No, I’m texting you. And tweeting you. And Instagramming you. Who talks anymore?
To quote Travis: “Someday a real rain will come and wash all this (social media) scum off the streets.”
Here, the cleansing rain comes in the form of increasing human interaction between Hathaway and DeNiro. Their initial conversations are fractured by technology, as Hathaway reassigns him via text without his knowing. Soon, they bond over technology, as DeNiro describes his former phone book company while Hathaway helps him set up his first Facebook page. Finally, they scrap technology entirely to have a heart-to-heart discussion face-to-face in a hotel room during a business trip.
In this way, Hathaway’s personal journey inspires her to appreciate the old-fashioned manners of DeNiro, who still brings a calculator to work, carries a briefcase, tucks in his shirt and carries a chivalrous handkerchief (paying off like Jimmy Stewart’s socks in “The Shop Around the Corner”).
Such old-school habits are not just charming to the younger co-workers — Adam DeVine, Nat Wolff, Christina Scherer and Zack Pearlman — they’re an aphrodisiac to the office masseuse, Rene Russo, who has fun playfully seducing instead of being blackmailed into sex like in “Nightcrawler” (2014).
As cute as these generational observations can be, Meyers occasionally overreaches with exposition. Throughout, characters dissect social politics by thinking out loud in a way that human beings likely wouldn’t talk to each other. We understand the script has certain points to make on age and gender in the valiant quest for social commentary, but these points could have used more dialogue disguise.
Similar discretion could have been used in the trimming of unnecessary scenes, like a covert mission to delete an accidental email (a secret Hillary Clinton jab?). Despite a few chuckles with the “Ocean’s Eleven” theme music, you could remove the scene without affecting the story one bit. The email’s recipient virtually disappears from the script, so the entire gag plays out like a distracting interlude.
Overall, though, Meyers has some important things to say about gender politics in the Millennial Generation. “How in one generation have men gone from guys like Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford to …,” Hathway quips, before trailing off in despair while looking at the sloppy guys at the bar.
She then points to DeNiro to make a statement: “Look and learn, boys, because this is what cool is.”
Indeed, nothing in cinema is cooler than DeNiro strutting into the bar with a girl on each arm in “Mean Streets” (1973). Remember the song? The Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Just because Meyers once wrote a script called “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” doesn’t mean she fully grasps the idea of cinematic “cool,” nor does she necessarily need to. She’s more occupied with the idea of “decent,” in every sense of the word. Decent as in good-hearted. Decent as in polite. Decent as in above-average.
“The Intern” is smart enough to call out Millennials for ways to improve their lot. But like the young adolescents, the film itself is trying to figure out what it wants to be, bouncing around with energy, not realizing its shirt is sticking out, but still lovable because you can see the good intentions.
The above rating is based on a 4-star scale. See where this film ranks in our Fraley Film Guide. Follow WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley on Twitter @JFrayWTOP.
