Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/587664
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2015 40 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Il Trovatore 18:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 The Martian 3D (PG) 15:00, 18:00, 21:00 Paper Towns (12) 10:30, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 20:55 The Transporter Refueled (15) 16:20, 21:05, 23:15 Maze Runner: Scorch Trials 3D (12) 13:00, 15:45, 18:30, 21:15 Everest (PG) 10:15, 13:45, 18:30 Legend (18) 18:00, 20:50 The Intern (12) 10:20, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:10 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 The Transporter Refueled (15) 14:10, 16:25, 18:50, 21:10, 23:30 The Intern (12) 14:25, 18:20, 20:55, 23:30 The Walk 3D (PG) 14:15, 18:00, 20:45, 23:25 Paper Towns (12) 14:10, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:30 American Ultra (15) 14:20, 16:25, 18:40, 21:00, 23:15 Beyond the Reach (12) 16:35, 21:15 Vacation (15) 14:15, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:20 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (12) 14:30, 18:00, 20:50, 23:30 Legend (18) 14:20, 18:05, 20:45, 23:30 The Martian (12) 14:30, 18:10, 21:15 Everest (PG) 14:25, 18:05, 20:50, 23:25 Eden (15) 14:00, 18:35, 23:20 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Walk 3D (PG) 10:45, 13:20, 15:55, 18:30, 21:10 Everest (PG) 10:45, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 The Transporter Refueled (15) 20:55 Legend (18) 10:30, 12:30, 17:30, 21:00 The Intern (12) 10:55, 13:15, 16:00, 18:35, 21:10 The Martian (12) 10:30, 13:30 (3D), 17:00, 20:15 (3D) American Ultra (15) 11:00, 13:40, 15:50, 18:05 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (12) 10:25, 13:10, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 THE work environment can make for great movie fodder. For one thing, situating a story in an office – or any other profes- sional space – makes it instantly relatable to most of us. The daily grind, the dynamics between col- leagues, the relationship with the boss and the struggle to stand out in a competitive environment – all things familiar to us, and all things that would make for crack- ing good comedy/drama in the right hands. Written and directed by Nancy Myers (It's Complicated, What Women Want), The Intern takes the workplace as a starting to point to weave a lightweight comedy with an instantly appeal- ing hook. Starting a new job is daunting by any measure, but when you're 70 years old the process becomes all the more complicated. But newly widowed Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is adamant to fill the "hole" in his life left by retirement, and when he catches wind of a newly-launched 'senior internship' programme, he jumps at the chance to apply for a post at an up-and-coming online fash- ion site, All About the Fit, run by the resourceful but overworked Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). Jules is sceptical about this newfangled initiative at first, but gradually warms to Ben's charm- ing old-world demeanour and un- flinchingly professional attitude. However, not all is rosy with the figure-friendly online shopping site. Signs point towards Jules needing a CEO to oversee things, which in her eyes defeats the pur- pose of her striking out as an in- dependent business owner. With her marriage to Matt (An- ders Holm) also taking consid- erable strain from Jules' dogged insistence to go it alone, will Ben prove to be the magic salve that gives her life some perspective? Effectively doing a switcheroo on her career-defining role in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Intern casts Hathaway in a role comparable to the one Meryl Streep – a Myers veteran – held in that film, albeit in an embry- onic version of that same charac- ter. As such, the preamble leads us to believe that she's some kind of dragon lady, but this is never apparent to the viewer. If any- thing, she just comes across as overwhelmed by her hard-won but equally quick ascent to suc- cess, so casting her as some kind of monster just feels unneces- sary. It's at times like these when the cracks in Myers' otherwise insist- ently inoffensive film begin to show. It's a definite case of want- ing to have the cake and eat it too: she wants to hook mass audienc- es in with the promise that all the comforting comedy clichés will be present and accounted for, while also trying to squeeze something topical and worthy through the ossified mold of the genre. For the most part this doesn't really affect the film's rhythm, but it's glaring when it does. One example is a later scene – expand- ing an already-bloated running time – in which Hathaway offers yet another tearful monologue in a single take. I suppose this is a standard requirement now that she's bagged an Oscar for her similarly framed – and equally waterworks-intensive – rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream' in Tom Hooper's adaptation of Les Mis- erables (2013). De Niro gets his fair share of straight-up screen hogging ('chewing the scenery' somehow feels wrong in this almost insuf- ferably cozy environment), and to be honest they're hardly the show-stopping pieces of cin- ematic delight you'd expect from a seasoned veteran brought in be- cause of stunt casting. But the fact that De Niro has dropped the ball on his career is hardly breaking news – The Silver Linings Playbook (2012) offered a glimmer of hope but it appears to have been short-lived – and truth be told he slides into the role of the wise but humble mentor with ease and even, at a stretch, grace. The Intern also has a couple of things to say about the politics of the workplace and generational shifts – most notably on mat- ters of sexism in business – but it doesn't dwell on them too much. This cozy bubble can't handle too much disturbance. By Teodor Reljic Not quite beyond the call of duty ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ JOB SATISFACTION ★ ★ ★ ★ ALL PLAY, NO WORK ★ ★ ★ WORKING STIFF ★ ★ WORKED TO THE BONE ★ SLAVE TO THE GRIND FILM Generation gap: Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway are overqualified but underperforming in this workplace comedy of matters YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt THE INTERN (12A) ★ ★ ★