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.
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.