The Intern, a Nancy Meyers workplace comedy starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, is currently available to bring home on 4K Ultra HD.

The 2015 film has been available on 4K UHD since October but I finally got around to rewatching the film for the first time in nearly a decade. You know what? It’s not that bad. I was very late to publishing the Solzy Awards for 2015 because of dealing with a major case of dysphoria late in the year. However, this film will definitely be on there upon revisiting the top films of 2015. For a comedy though, it does run rather long at 121 minutes. Comedy movies—be it workplace, romance, or whatever—do not need to be this long. There’s nothing wrong with 90-100 minute comedies. Picture-wise, the film looks amazing on 4K UHD. There’s no digital copy, nor is the sound made for Dolby Atmos like many 4K discs.

Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is a 70-year-old widower and a retired executive who is currently bored living in retirement. He decides to enroll for a senior internship program at Brooklyn e-commerce fashion startup About the Fit. Obviously, some people think it’s a joke when this old man walks in and says he has an appointment with Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). He gets assigned to work with Jules. Everything changes for the better when he notices Jules’s driver drinking on the job. Thinking it would be bad, he tells Mike to take the rest of the day off and he steps into cover. From there, Ben and Jules develop an unlikely friendship and the rest is history.

In as much as De Niro and Hathaway are the stores, Meyers also lets audiences spend time time with other employees, such as Jason (Adam DeVine), Davis (Zack Pearlman), Lewis (Jason Orley), and Jules’s chief assistant, Becky Scott (Christina Scherer). After a not-paying-attention Jules sends an email meant for Matt to her mother, she recuits Ben and some of the guys to break into her mom’s house and delete the email. It’s a real bonding moment and also speaks to Nancy Meyers still being a brilliant writer after all these years when Jules says the following while at the bar with Ben, Jason, Davis, and Lewis:

“How, in one generation, have men gone from guys like jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford to… take Ben, here. A dying breed. You know? Look and learn, boys. Because if you ask me, this is what cool is.”

Costume designer Jacqueline Demeterio gives Hathaway’s Jules a wardrobe that might remind one of Katharine Hepburn, if Hepburn were dressing post-punk. As for Jules’s assistant, Becky wears clothing that is trendy but from lower end stores such as H&M and ZARA. In short, it speaks to the budget that the character has. De Niro’s Ben isn’t too shabby himself. He is always dressing up in suits even though employees are allowed to dress super casually.

Make no mistake that the professional relationship and friendship between Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway feels unconventional. However, this is what makes the film so pleasant to watch. It’s strictly a workplace comedy with no hint of romance involved between the two leads. Maybe Quentin Tarantino was onto something when he said the film should have been up for Oscars. He’s not wrong. It’s a way better film than a number of movies that I remember watching in 2015. In fact, both De Niro and the film’s screenplay should have received nominations. It goes without saying that comedies tend to receive the short end of the stick. In looking back, The Intern was worthy of more love from the Academy.

The Intern runs a bit longer than it should but leads Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway make it worthwhile–it’s a film that gets better with age.

Bonus Features

• Learning from Experience—Director Nancy Meyers and the cast discuss bridging the “generation gap” in a humorous way
• Designs on Life—Learn about the film’s runway-ready looks and eye-popping interior design
• The Three Interns—An exclusive interview with Comedy Central fan faves Adam DeVine, Zack Pearlman, and newcomer Jason Orley

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Nancy Meyers
CAST: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, Adam DeVine, Andrew Rannells, Linda Lavin, Christina Scherer, Celia Weston, JoJo Kushner, Zack Pearlman, Jason Orley

Warner Bros. released The Intern in theaters on September 25, 2015. Grade: 4/5

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