The Intern (2015) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Nancy Meyers

Starring:   Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway, Anders Holm, Rene Russo

Not to be confused with The Internship (2013), the lame Vince Vaughan-Owen Wilson comedy, The Intern is warm and observant.    We see two people who care for each other and grow to understand each other.    Their differences only strengthen and complement their personalities.    This is a refreshing film in which age doesn't divide people, but acts as a catalyst for learning and growing.

DeNiro stars as Ben Whitaker, a retired widower bored with his daily life of doing nothing.    At first, retirement was a novelty, but there are only so many yoga classes you can attend.
He sees a flyer advertising a Senior Intern Program for a local web-based company run by the harried and time-crunched Jules (Hathaway), who rides a bike around the office and allows five minute windows for meetings.    Ben applies and is hired, but doesn't have much to do.    He is the type of man who wants to be of service and finds ways to keep busy.    It is Jules' good fortune that she becomes his mentor, or is it the other way around?   

Jules' company is a runaway success, but investors are nervous that she may be not be able to sustain it as business demands grow.    They recommend she hire a CEO to handle the company, which Jules reluctantly agrees to.   Jules' swamped days soon bleed over into her family life, which consists of a stay-at-home husband named Matt and a young daughter.    She loves them dearly, but the business has slowly become the focal point of her days.    Will this cause tension?    It is a safe bet to say yes.

Ben's involvement in Jules' life starts at strictly professional, but then he takes on the role of father figure and a trusted confidant.    Ben also attracts a love interest, an office masseuse named Fiona (Russo) who manages to rub in all the right places.    Russo does what she can in a role that is largely unnecessary and whose only function is to make Ben realize that he doesn't need Viagra just yet.   This detour does not deter from the main event however. 

DeNiro, who here and in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), effortlessly plays a man who effuses experience, fortitude, and decency.    It is good to see DeNiro transform into these likable characters after years of playing cops, wiseguys, and morally questionable people.    Hathaway's Jules is not a cold career woman.    She is simply unable to juggle everything her job and family demands of her, although it isn't from lack of trying.    When she finally gets a chance to sleep, we hope no one wakes her.

Thank goodness The Intern did not transform into a comedy punctuated by lame ageist jokes and gags.   Writer-director Nancy Meyers sets a warm tone that is right throughout.    The outlines of The Intern are nothing that will surprise anyone, but the people will.    I love a movie that allows its people to surprise and touch us in ways we did not anticipate.    The Intern is one of those movies that lets its characters be real and human.