The Intern

Robert De Niro is a senior citizen on work experience in a sprightly if rather unlikely comedy from writer/director Nancy Meyers. She specialises in feel-good comedies for the over 50s (Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated), except that here, Anne Hathaway's young high-flyer is aiming to close the gap between generations. She takes the old guy under her wing at the shopping website she started up, before inevitably finding that she's the one who's on a learning curve. In a plot littered with dramatic shortcuts, there are wryly amusing, well-observed moments like De Niro turning up at the office in a suit, with a calculator and addressing himself, in a business-like way, in the mirror - riffing on that famous scene from Taxi Driver. It's a pity that Meyers lets Hathaway's personal troubles overtake his story (her family life suffering as the site becomes more successful), but the most important connection - between the two leads - works surprisingly well, which helps paper over the cracks.