Review of The Intern, directed by Nancy Meyers

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

About a year ago (at the time of typing this) I quit my job as a professional film critic to explore what was out there in the world when it came to publishing about the movies and books I wanted to see, not just what was popular in the moment. Digital media and working within it can be fun and all, but it can be grinding when you’re just chasing after all the latest trends and clicks for SEO.

I started this blog four years ago, during the pandemic, but never really took it seriously beyond the occasional post here and there about what I was up to. In 2023 I began to realize the impact this blog was having on me, and other people were reaching out about reading it, so I expanded. Once I quit my job, I decided to focus on the blog more while job hunting, as I do make a few pennies here and there from the display ads on the screen.

Anyways, I was watching a lot of movies during this time of being unemployed, as sometimes I would put them on as I was applying to jobs on the couch, and others while I was trying to brain rot after applying to said jobs. Job searching truly is a full-time job, and when I didn’t watch movies while doing it, I found myself sitting back and wanting to turn my mind off in the evenings.

That was how I ended up watching The Intern on Netflix. I had never heard of the movie before it appeared as a new release on the platform, but decided to give it a chance because why not? It’s not like I had much else to do at the time.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much.

A retired businessman decides to take up an intern position at a startup, but his new boss doesn’t take him seriously at first.

Our main character in this movie is Ben Whittaker, who, at seventy years old and widowed, wants to give his life a new purpose. He was once an executive at a prominent American company, but that changes when he applies to an internship at a Brooklyn fashion start-up geared towards older folks looking to have opportunities in the industry.

He’s one of the interns brought on after the interviews, as he charmed everyone with his wit and humor, and then he’s assigned to work with the CEO, Jules Ostin, on his first day. However, she sees that her intern is an old man and decides not to take him seriously or give him any work.

Still Ben busies himself at the office, cleaning up messes, chatting with coworkers and giving them life and work advice, and making himself useful despite not doing any of Jules’ work. She notices him after he cleans a desk that gave her a lot of grievance before, and then, after noticing her driver is drinking on the job, he becomes her driver.

He continues doing that in the days afterward, even though Jules is uncomfortable with him getting more personal with her (appropriately—if I have to add). She does ask Cameron, her Vice President, to put him on with someone else, but then she learns they’re working in the same building he once did at his old job. She questions her decision to reassign him, and the next morning learns that this has been done.

Her new driver almost crashes the car and Jules goes to Ben and asks him to come back to work with her, and he agrees despite how she was treating him before. It’s now she starts giving him actual work to do, and he also finds an office romance with the massage therapist in the office. Ben and crew also come to the rescue when Jules sends an awful email to her mother by accident; they break into her home and delete it from her computer without being busted by the cops.

Ben also meets Jules’ family while driving her home and taking her daughter around. There’s friction between Jules and her husband Matt, as he gave up his career for her, and Ben eventually catches Matt having an affair while driving their young daughter home one day. Jules starts cracking at the office because investors want her to step down and put someone else in the role, and she decides to do just that.

Ben and Jules head to San Francisco to interview a candidate, and while Ben tries to discuss what he saw with Matt, Jules reveals she already knows about it and is unable to actually talk to Matt about what he’s done. The CEO candidate Jules decides is worhty enough to lead the company, but Ben tells her to reconsider what’s happening.

Matt comes into the office and tells her just that too, admitting he has cheated on her and is willing to move on from the affair and be committed to her. Jules then decides to continue being the CEO, then looks for Ben to tell him the news.

She goes looking for him, but can’t find him, nor does Fiona (the therapist) knows where he is. She eventually finds him at a tai chi exercise group, as he took the day off, and she joins him on his day off.

Overall Thoughts

I found this to be a pretty cute movie overall, minus the whole cheating drama. I get that Jules is trying to preserve her marriage by not saying anything, while also denying it at the same time by not saying anything, but I don’t know if I could have taken Matt back after all that. Kudos to her—I hope it turns out well in this fictional world.

All in all, this is a feel good movie. I do like the concept of seniors being able to go into an office and have some semblance of the life they had before, as retirement can be incredibly isolating and people truly lose the will to keep going when they are isolated and old.

Is this the greatest movie? I wouldn’t say that, but it certainly entertained me for a short amount of time, allowed me to turn my brain off, and I was able to relax for a little bit because of how immersed I was in this world. I recommend it for those looking for a cute Friday or Saturday night watch that isn’t too serious.

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