New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

A few years ago we lost the amazing Nora Ephron. Her films were filled with similarly clever dialogue, beautiful sets, and inviting plotlines that rarely had an explosion. If you look at the marketplace now, these movies rarely exist. Ephron is gone, and a slew of copycats flooded the marketplace in the '90s and early aughts, leaving audiences exhausted by stories of working girls falling in love and thirsty for more hero movies. What masses didn’t realize was that only a few were doing those pleasant stories right.

The Katherine Heigl flicks of yesteryear have been quickly forgotten, but the Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron films have stood the test of time because they are wonderfully made. Should You’ve Got Mail still feel fresh? I certainly don’t know anyone that has used AOL since I grew out of my fat-phase (1999), but after 16 years it’s still regarded by many as a favorite. (Side note: it’s my all-time favorite movie, and if I knew all of your names and addresses I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils every fall just like Tom says to Meg via e-mail.)

If you do a quick Rotten Tomatoes search for Nancy Meyers projects, you will find a constant in that many critics hated them upon release. However, Baby Boom, Private Benjamin, It’s Complicated and The Holiday are still loved by many. Other critically acclaimed films might win Best Picture awards upon release, but you aren’t going to pop them in the DVD and watch over and over again (cough CRASH cough). The Intern is another film I truly believe will be appreciated in 10 years. It will run on TBS, or whatever method we’re using to watch things (probably some sort of microchip that is implanted into our brains via kale). We’ll pair it with a glass of wine and Meryl Streep in It’s Complicated, then tweet about what a wonderful night we’re having alone with our movie friends. #WillWeStillBeTweetingIn10Years?

There are a few other things I want to mention before wrapping up. Specifically, how sick it is that it feels progressive to have a female running a company, who is also a mother and not feeling awful for working. How has this been so rarely portrayed on screen the way it is in The Intern? I know lots of mothers that work and stay up all night thinking about how bad they are at mothering.

I’d also like to point out Adam Devine’s Jason, another intern at the company, who is so incredibly likable onscreen. Devine is likable in everything because he’s attractive while still being able to pull off the nerdy angle. I hope people realize how great he is and he becomes an even bigger star. Finally, I’d like to highlight Rene Russo as a human, hoping Nancy Meyers, or anyone else, sees this and is able to write a role suitable of her talents. Remember when she made her cameo in two Thor movies? I’m not even sure she spoke in the first one. She’s 61, not dead. Let’s do better.

In conclusion, if you thought everything I just said about Meyers/The Intern was B.S., you will probably hate The Intern. If you didn’t, grab a friend and make plans to see it this weekend with a Pumpkin Spice Latte and a cozy blanket. And remember, just because lots of people like Pumpkin Spice Lattes, doesn’t mean you have to hate it. You can like things that are popular without feeling guilty or with irony audibly in tow… you know, things like Nancy Meyers movies.

Continued:       1       2