The Intern review: A cosy but distinctly beige generation-gap comedy

Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro star in the cinematic equivalent of a warm pair of slippers and a comfy armchair - the meandering tale of a neurotic businesswoman who employs, is annoyed by, but then eventually learns from a middle-aged widower she takes on as work experience. Feel-good wisdom with a hipster twist, from the director of Something's Gotta Give.

If you've glanced briefly at the poster and are somehow mistaking this for Catwoman vs Taxi Driver, think again. Really. Because while The Intern, the latest movie from director Nancy Meyers (It's Complicated), promises crackling A-lister conflict, what it actually delivers is an exercise in cosy, generation-gap comedy dressed up as something smarter.

Describing himself as a "company man", widower Ben (De Niro) is cast adrift in retirement with no sense of purpose. That is until he's enrolled in an unlikely scheme that gives senior citizens the opportunity of work experience – although applying could also be accepting defeat (assuming a person's life is meaningless beyond their job description).

It feels like a sad state of affairs when Ben is hired to be the unpaid assistant to Jules Ostin (Hathaway), the young highflying founder of internet start-up About the Fit that supposedly takes the guesswork out of online clothes shopping.

What eventually becomes clear is that Ben's role – aside from fetching coffee and ferrying Jules around New York – is to be the mentor and positive parental influence that is sorely lacking in her life. But to often ludicrous extremes. For example: a sequence where Ben assembles a crack team of web geeks to break into Jules's mother's house and delete an email (wherein she calls her mother a bitch) is one of the highlights of the film, albeit a stretch – for it means Jules putting Ben and co at risk of prosecution.

While it never quite thrills, you soon settle into the relaxed rapport and easy rhythms of a decent comedy – albeit one that is distinctly beige, and almost instantly forgettable.

Trying her best, Hathaway demonstrates a steely determination as Jules along with great uncertainty (her investors think it's about time she brought on an experienced CEO). But as the focus shifts between the office and the domestic realm - where Jules beats herself up about neglecting her husband (Anders Holm) and young daughter - her dilemmas are rather too easily and unsatisfactorily solved.

De Niro's Ben, meanwhile, exudes the quiet confidence she aspires to. Putting aside, mercifully, a weirdly incongruous scene about his visible erection, Jules and Ben's scenes together trade on that difference in life experience, and they complement each other well - building a rapport that leads towards some genuinely touching moments in an overly engineered plot.

As well as some well-observed, wryly funny moments too. Such as when Ben arrives for his first day at the office, nudges aside an Apple Mac to open his briefcase, and then takes out a calculator. Or, addressing himself, business-like, in the mirror in a cute riff on that scene from Taxi Driver.

Indeed, Ben's efforts to stay relevant in the digital world are just as intriguing – particularly as it turns out he has some good ideas about how to increase revenue. So it's a shame that, in the rush to get to a happy ending, this is sadly neglected by Meyers and the script. But still: the quality of the film's leads means that it never quite collapses into an avalanche of saccharine sentimentality. And while it never quite thrills, you soon settle into the relaxed rapport and easy rhythms of a decent comedy – albeit one that is distinctly beige, and almost instantly forgettable.

Director: Nancy Meyers; Screenwriter: Nancy Meyers; Starring: Anne Hathaway, Robert De Niro, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, Nat Wolff, Adam DeVine; Running time: 121 mins; Certificate: 12A