Man lernt nie aus

Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is a 70 year old Brooklyn widower and a retired executive from the phone company. His son's family lives out of town. He tries to fill his days of leisure. He spots a flyer advertising internships for senior citizens. It's a fast-paced fashion internet commerce site run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). It's been a hectic 18 months for the married mother of little girl and she is reluctantly forced to use Ben as her assistant. Her husband Matt gave up his job to be the stay-at-home dad. Fiona (Rene Russo) is the company masseuse. Ben befriends everyone until Fiona starts to find him indispensable.

Nancy Meyers gets a bad rap as the rom-com has become a passe genre. This is not a rom-com but it is a friend-com. De Niro is a little too perfect as the magical old guy with all the answers and lessons for the young ones. This movie is a bit too neat and clean with the characters. Hathaway is the driven multi-tasking internet executive. The characters may be stock but the actors make them breathe. Some of the side characters have some fun. The big twist (not that surprising) does not really raise the drama although Nancy is trying to say somethings. It all combines to create a nice pairing of these two great actors.

A retired 70-year-old widower, Ben (played by Robert De Niro), is bored with retired life. He applies to a be a senior intern at an online fashion retailer and gets the position. The founder of the company is Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), a tireless, driven, demanding, dynamic workaholic. Ben is made her intern, but this is a nominal role - she doesn't intend to give him work and it is just window dressing. However, Ben proves to be quite useful and, more than that, a source of support and wisdom.

Good, and surprisingly so. I was expecting a farcical half-baked comedy about how an old guy rejoins the work force and struggles with modern gadgets and work processes. There are a few examples of that but the movie is far more than a story about generational differences. It's more a drama than a comedy, and is a good one too. There's themes of generational wisdom, not judging people by their age (or anything superficial) and making the most of people's talents. It's also a movie about starting over, and doing what you enjoy.

Moreover, it's simply a nice story.

Solid work by Robert De Niro in the lead role. He doesn't do bad performances, but that hasn't stopped him in the past from taking on roles and movies that are well below his standards. This is not one of those roles or movies. Sensitively played, and ideal for the role.

Good work too by Anne Hathaway, who is very convincing as the go- getting entrepreneur.

Without knowing too much about the plot, I assumed this was taking De Niro down a familiar trodden path of another "Fokker" type role. How wrong I was! This is a very endearing, gentle and easily watchable escapade that sees an ageing De Niro being given an internship with an e-commerce fashion company and becoming surprisingly useful at bestowing his considerable knowledge to his new colleagues. I can't remember ever seeing De Niro play such a likable role without seemingly any flaws to his character. Hathaway charms her way through the film and there's a nice cameo from Russo as a love interest. A film that doesn't try too hard to be funny and comes across better for it.

It's amazing how well this film captured the essence of being a millennial brand. The craziness, and hectic behind- the-scenes life of the online startups that we see pop in our Instagram feed daily. I actually love Anne Hathaway in this business woman roll. Also the movie will make you like Robert De Niro, as he plays a kind gentlemanly retiree. I never get to see De Niro in this type of roll (due to me usually not liking any movie he's in) but he's so admirable in this movie and I couldn't imagine anyone playing it better. I love how the movie shows some of the struggles and prejudice a female founder/CEO can face without portraying Anne's character as whiny or completely incapable of running her own company.

"You're never wrong for doing the right thing."

From time to another, we need to watch such a simple and joyful movie without too complications.

Deniro's character always makes you smile and makes you feel happy like he does to other characters in the movie.

The only problem in the movie is the second half which in my opinion is a little bit direct and focusing on only one point.