COMEDY; 2hr 1min
STARRING: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway
Stars aligned: De Niro and Hathaway
At 70, company retiree and widower Ben Whittaker (De Niro, trying Mr Mild Mannered for size) is tired of marking time. “I just know there’s a hole in my life,” he says. That hole is set to be brim-filled by hectic internet fashion site About The Fit, established and run at jitterbug speed by the unnervingly energised Jules Austin (Hathaway, always a dream to behold).
Having taken the business from zero to hero with a staff of 220 in 18 months, Jules is bending over backwards to cope. Ben, in contrast, is so chilled that when he starts work as a senior intern directly assigned to the unimpressed head girl, the self-confidence of his young co-workers washes right off his smiley hide.
With Ben settled like a pipe dream into ATF’s achingly cool converted Brooklyn factory, the resistant Jules is in for a total change of heart. Naturally! This is filmmaker Nancy Meyer, It’s Complicated, country! Only in the glossiest hypothetical could a selflessly benevolent senior cit capture the collective hearts of a roomful of upwardly mobile me gens and waltz away with their fanciable house masseuse (Rene Russo) into the marshmallowy bargain.
