Nancy Meyers does amazing movies. Many of the movies I own and love have been written and/or directed and/or produced by her: It’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give, Baby Boom, Jumping Jack Flash, The Holiday, The Parent Trap, What Women Want.

She’s very good at showing love stories and friendships between people who are older than the Hollywood average of 25 to 32. Many of the characters are divorced, widowed, long time singletons and or single parents.

The Intern is less about love and more about family and friendship. And about feminism. But let’s discuss that later.

Ben (Robert De Niro) is retired, widowed and bored out of his mind. When he sees an advert calling for mature interns, he applies in the middle of the night.

Jules (Anne Hathaway) is the creator and CEO of new online shopping website About The Fit. She’s an amazing boss and simultaneously, a tiring boss. Always on the go, so busy she rides a bike through the office to get places fast and exercise simultaneously, she’s still in touch with the customers; knows how everything is supposed to work and how it should look.

When her trusted colleague Cameron (Andrew Rannells) pairs Ben with her (to show the example), she realises that she has very little to do for him. So Ben, never one to shy away from a challenge, manages to find something to do every day by following around the other interns, and getting to know the company.

But the trustees are unsure about Jules, and want her to hire a more experienced CEO to help grow the business. Saddened by the lack of trust, Jules finds herself starting to lean on Ben who’s always there to boost her morale, help her cope and understands her problems.

From there grows an unlikely friendship that will benefit both of them.

The movie has quite a lot of characters and sub-plots, and it’d be pointless to mention them all because it’ll spoil the joy of watching the whole thing. Because it’s a great movie and much better than the trailer led me to expect.

As I mentioned above, it’s also a movie with quite a feminist touch. De Niro spends a lot of time helping Hathaway see just how amazing she is, and he also tells her that the fact her husband decided to stay home to raise their child does not mean she’s a bad mother. Nancy Meyers uses De Niro’s character as an example of what manhood used to be, and what it should be again.

It’s a fun movie to see with friends, parents and partners.

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