The Intern

This review may contain spoilers!

I genuinely love seeing Robert De Niro onscreen. I would give The Intern an 8/10.

I think what I love the most about this film is just the genuine humanity in it; it's all about people and how the cope within their own very serious struggles. If anything through these interactions at their place of work we see some pretty amazing messages from practically every plotline. I really thought that the comedy utilised in this film was exceptional, they came at the right time and when the film demanded them rather than overloading the film. The soundtrack and score for this film was a lot of fun; one of the best moments in the film was Adam DeVine rapping along with 'Busta Rhymes'. The cinematography for this feature was fairly simple but showed a complete mastery of how to use the frame in a stylistic manner.

Anne Hathaway, who played Jules, was wonderfully erratic and kinda quirky in this film; her role demanded a realistic woman someone who has both really likeable and dislikeable traits but ultimately functions well as a businesswoman to aspire to. JoJo Kushner, who played Paige, is a fantastic child actress; she was very comedic in her own right and quite a sweet role. Adam DeVine, who played Jason, is as always extremely funny and had one of the best scenes in the film when he started rapping; however I liked that he showed he could be awkward and uncertain of how to talk to the woman he had a crush upon. Zack Pearlman, who played Davis, had some fantastic chemistry with De Niro; I really liked how his comedy was so over the top but always came at the right moments. Christina Scherer, who played Becky, gave quite a genuine performance; I loved the moment where we see her admit she wants to be acknowledged for her work more that was a great emotional moment.

However the best performance came from Robert De Niro, who played Ben. What I love about De Niro's acting is that he can work so well alongside others; I think he brings the best out of the cast in this film. More than that he creates a really charming and quite down to Earth character whom you can really empathise with. He engages in some great moments of drama and comedy both showing the brilliant sense of balance he has when it comes to his acting range.

The editing for this film was a major let down, there were cuts that just came very abruptly and at awkward places. This also showed in the pacing because, while the film flowed nicely, there were some major time jumps dotted throughout which made the film a bit confusing to watch. I also didn't appreciate the cheating husband plotline, it undercut a pretty good character and relationship; if it had been something like a divorce scare then absolutely that would have been something the film could have ended upon. Because the film made the husband cheat while trying to build up who Jules was as a character the result was that we were left with a completely dissatisfying ending.

Rene Russo, who played Fiona, was a really awkward character to watch; I hated this unnecessary romance subplot that took away from the interesting elements of the film. Anders Holm, who played Matt, gave a really good performance until the cheating plotline which undermined it all; frankly what irked me the most was his apology to Jules at the end which seemed kind of empty after what the rest of the film had shown us. Andrew Rannells, who played Cameron, was a bit irritating onscreen; he only came in as a way to enforce plot or exposition and beyond that his role was kind of ambiguous. Jason Orley, who played Lewis, had very little screen presence in this film; I wasn't a big fan of how he interacted with others in comedic situations.