I went to see this with the iron matriarch on Monday. We'd seen the trailer and talked about going to see it, so we were pretty excited. (She also got out of letting pay for her ticket! Incorrigible.)
I'd seen some of the reviews for it, too (Jeremy Jahns and Chris Stuckmann are two such guys I subscribe to on YouTube,) and they seemed to enjoy it.
But enough of expectations and reviewers! Was it worth watching?
Let's find out!
Story/Dialogue: A retired widower Ben Whittaker (Robert DeNiro) has sent in an application video for a seniors intern program at an online fashion company run by Jules Ostin, (Anne Hathaway) a quirky boss who excels at micromanaging.
As Ben deals with being back in the workforce, Jules struggles with the decision to hand over control to a CEO.
Now, let me be very clear on this point! This is not a romantic comedy. At least, not in the traditional sense. Blake Snyder will tell you that all buddy comedies are romance stories and to a point, he's right.
However, we're dealing with love in a friendship capacity. It explores dynamic of two people with a massive age gap and no romantic interest in each other. Ben, even as an intern, plays a mentor to Jules, who challenges him and keeps him on his toes.
It's this chemistry that works really well throughout the movie.
The other thing is that it's incredibly funny. There were a lot of instances throughout the movie that were both tastefully done, yet still hilarious.
While the dialogue isn't prose from the tongue of the Bard, it's perfectly suited to the film. Not groundbreaking, but not clunky.
Cinematography: The camera seemed to reflect Jules in that there was no handheld element. Dolly shots made grand sweeps of the streets of Brooklyn and the remodelled warehouse that Jules works in.
I think the only instance where I was irked by the lighting was when Jules was in bed and even though the lights were off, there was this weird glow as if there was a skylight right on their bed. It was an interesting shot, but it kind of took me out of the story, which bugged me.
Unlike the camera shots, the framing was often unbalanced. Characters would all stand to one side leaving 2/3's of the screen empty. However, this is not a complaint, merely an observation. It allowed all the focus to be on the characters in the scene, but didn't allow for much visual storytelling.
Audio: The score contained a lot of flutes, which made the shots of Brooklyn feel whimsical. It also included a lot of upbeat piano and more bar appropriate music in those scenes. A lot of the other times, it wasn't all that memorable.
The atmos tracks were well layered and added an air of authenticity, while maintaining that same movie quality. It's often difficult to balance that, so it's something that I greatly appreciated.
Overall: Frankly, this movie was everything I hoped for and more. The acting was excellent, the humour was funny and tasteful and you can't help but like each of the characters. It really shows that even though you may be retired, you still have plenty more to teach and to learn.
Lastly, I also loved how the beginning and the end shots mirrored each other. It was a nice touch.
5 Stars.
Thus ends this review.
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