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Every week, Netflix unveils its Top 10 lists for the week before, ranking TV shows and movies by viewership. While Netflix regularly churns out new ripped-from-the-headlines documentaries and original action films that tend to dominate audience views every week (Trainwreck: Poop Cruise is No. 1 -- how could it not be with a title like that), one of the biggest films in the Netflix Top 10 for the week of June 23 is a charming, understated comedy from 2015.
The Intern, starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, was written and directed by coastal-grandma auteur Nancy Meyers, but unlike so many of her most popular films, The Intern is not a rom-com. Instead, it's a tender story of friendship between a widowed retiree named Ben (De Niro) and fashion entrepreneur Jules (Hathaway), whose company hires him as an intern.
While Jules, a successful woman who runs an e-commerce fashion website, initially brushes off Ben's gentlemanly charm and advice as old-fashioned, they soon develop a mentor-mentee relationship where, in a surprising twist, Ben is the mentor. Jules is dealing with a cheating husband, a busy home life and the threat of being ousted by her own board members. She's stressed, and Ben is the last person she needs to babysit. Maybe in less capable hands, Ben would come off as more paternal or instructive, but De Niro's portrayal is so gentle and full of respect and reverence for Jules' success that he's a comfort to watch. (The movie was originally cast with Tina Fey and Michael Caine as the leads, which would have made for a much different film.)
De Niro typically toggles between tough guy roles and roles that parody being a tough guy, and here he's allowed to be something completely different. As a widower searching for both connection and purpose, Ben's desire to help Jules is genuine, and once she gets past her own preconceived notions about him, their mutual empathy for one another becomes the foundation for a deeper friendship. The film contains all the hallmarks of a Nancy Meyers movie: New romance, gorgeous kitchens -- the woman knows what the people want. Jules has a fabulously glossy Brooklyn home, and while Ben develops a romance with a massage therapist (played by Renee Russo), but this movie is distinctly a workplace comedy, not a rom-com. However, The Intern even more than that, it's a true feel-good movie, an antidote to a bad mood. The polar opposite of Poop Cruise. (Listen, I'm not knocking it, I totally watched Poop Cruise. With that title, how could you not?)
Since The Intern, De Niro has worked relentlessly, mostly playing criminals again in films like Killers of the Flower Moon, The Irishman and The Alto Knights. Maybe The Intern's popularity on Netflix will make him realize we're thirsty to see more of that big softie we know is buried beneath that tough exterior.
