Review Roundup: Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway & Andrew Rannells Star in THE INTERN

Academy Award winners Robert De Niro (RAGING BULL, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK) and Anne Hathaway (LES MISERABLES, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) star together in Warner Bros. Pictures' THE INTERN. Oscar-nominated and award-winning filmmaker Nancy Meyers (IT'S COMPLICATED, SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE, PRIVATE BENJAMIN) is directed the comedy from her own screenplay.

In THE INTERN, De Niro stars as Ben Whittaker, a 70-year-old widower who has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin (Hathaway).

Alongside De Niro and Hathaway, the cast also stars Rene Russo, Anders Holm, Andrew Rannells, and Adam Devine.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Matt Tamanini, Broadwayworld.com: While much of the film's marketing is centered on the kinder, gentler Robert DeNiro, Hathaway is an utterly charming life-force in and of herself in this movie, and has given me a new appreciation for her as a performer. De Niro is also quite charismatic in the film, but Hathaway is the disarmingly delightful star.

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. De Niro owns the movie from the moment he opens his mouth, and is staring into the camera and right at you. (Oh, yes, he's lookin' at you.) You can't look away, and soon you don't want to. Certainly Ms. Meyers doesn't want anyone to because, though she loves the idea of the successful, independent woman, she also ardently wants to make room for daddy.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: It's not much of a movie. But raging bull Robert De Niro, suited up to play for humor and heart, proves he can be a world-class charmer. He plays Ben Whittaker, 70, a retired widower hired as an intern for a Brooklyn e-commerce fashion house run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), a workaholic wife and mother who doesn't know what a geezer can teach her until, well, she does. That's it - pure fantasy piffle from writer-director Nancy Meyers. De Niro makes it go down easy.

Guy Lodge, Variety: Behind at least one successful woman stands an older, wiser man. That, at least, is the chief takeaway from "The Intern," a perky generation-gap fable that sneaks some surprisingly conservative gender politics into its stainless new world of online startups and amply product-placed Macbooks. Starring Robert De Niro as the tirelessly benevolent retiree who becomes fashion entrepreneur Anne Hathaway's unlikely guide to work-life equilibrium, this is smooth white-linen entertainment, unmistakably of a piece with the plush oeuvre of writer-director Nancy Meyers. Yet it takes all the leads' considerable combined charm to forestall the aftertaste of the pic's smug life lessons and near-comically blinkered worldview. Supplanting the romantic fizz of "It's Complicated" and "Something's Gotta Give" with scarf-deep social engagement may cost Meyers' latest a little at the box office, but this "Intern" will still be reasonably well-paid by an under-served date-night crowd.

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair: The movie glides along at a low, comfortable arc, and as the credits roll you're likely to be neither blissed out nor buzzing, instead merely lulled into a kind of fuzzy cheer. Hathaway, De Niro, and Meyers have all done their jobs very well (as have production designer Kristi Zea, set decorator Susan Bode, and composer Theodore Shapiro), but this is such a nice movie, where everyone behaves well and says the right thing, with so little conflict, that it almost evaporates as it goes. The Intern may be as close as Nancy Meyers ever gets to making a little chamber-piece indie. If you're already on board the Meyers train, that'll do just fine for you. But you may have a harder time than usual dragging a date along. Maybe just tell them it's about an older man and a younger woman and they can infer whatever they want from that. Much like The Intern, that could work well enough.

Sara Stewart, New York Post: There's a story going around this week about how De Niro bristled when an interviewer asked him about acting "on autopilot." After seeing "The Intern," you understand why he'd want to dodge that question, because the role demands little more of him than impeccable posture and a grandfatherly eye twinkle. It also hamstrings Hathaway, whose type-A character is never sullied by an ugly thought or deed. To their credit, Meyers' films have always been about basically decent people navigating life's various hurdles. Here, though, her characters have gone from "It's Complicated" to "It's Pretty Straightforward, Actually."

Jen Chaney, The Guardian: If the scenario for The Intern sounds awful, that's because it is. And it isn't as if Meyers writes dialogue like Oscar Wilde. Still, Hathaway and De Niro have some real chemistry, and by the end of the picture, they have developed something you rarely see represented in films: a male-female friendship that isn't familial or sexual. And for that, this internship deserves a little bit of credit.

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: The Intern skims both humor and pathos without ever quite settling on either; even in an apparent crisis, the tone remains as plush and soft-cornered as one of Meyers' ubiquitous throw pillows (though it's also knowing enough to toss off a good joke about them). Hathaway's take on the underwritten Jules is refreshingly unshowy, but De Niro seems a little lost; his Ben is muted to the point of evanescence, and a moment where he talks to himself in the mirror-he's been told that Jules distrusts anyone who doesn't blink-feels like a bizarro-world echo of his iconic Taxi Driver scene. It's like watching a lion who's been defanged and given a tofu bone to gnaw on. Then again, asking for sharper edges in a movie that can hardly find a ­person of color in New York City-let alone a pigeon or a poorly situated apartment-is probably futile. Because it's not actually New York we're seeing at all. It's Nancy's Narnia, and as much a fantasy as she wants it to be.

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: All of Meyers' movies are technically polished. In this case, the sets are cleverly designed by Kristi Zea, while the music by Theodore Shapiro is gratingly schmaltzy. In the end, an overdose of blandness sinks this middling star vehicle.

Pete Hammond, Deadline: The Intern is a genuine crowd pleaser in every way. The pairing of De Niro and Hathaway is inspired and the film says a lot about living your life to the fullest, no matter what your age. Warner Bros. releases the movie wide on Friday. I say GO.

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