MovieChat Forums > The Intern (2015) Discussion > Some issues with DeNiro's character

Some issues with DeNiro's character

posted 8 years ago by rhemerik
7 replies | jump to latest

I love DeNiro and realize the movie was more about Hathaway's character, but I had some issues with the development of his character:

- He didn't experience any conflict: Ben enters the movie stating he is bored and has nothing to lose: this never changes, his stakes are always low. He doesn't really seem to care when Hathaway transfers him away. The only conflict was the burglary scene which felt forced and out of place.
- He is observant: lots of scenes of him observing the drama of others. This is not too bad as his character is at least not passive, he initiates change later on.
- He was inconsistent: the guy knows nothing about Facebook, file formats etc. but only needs a 5 minute glance at a marketing report to conclude they need to shift investments into different marketing channels. So he is an online marketing expert?

But hey, it's Robert DeNiro playing him, so still enjoyable.

[–] jsasilas 8 years ago

Deniro should have been the glue that kept it all together. Not some outside CEO. We heard how brilliant if an individual he was throughout his life. Why wasn't he the icing on the cake. Plus what woman would be ok with their husband cheating. He made his bed now he should have to sleep in it. The ending was just dumb.

[–] ryebanana 8 years ago

It was actually refreshing to see a woman forgive her husband for cheating.

Hollywood is filled with movies where if the woman cheats, the husband instantly forgives her.

[–] Howlin Wolf 8 years ago

The whole movie was 'low stakes' - and I agree that the burglary interlude seemed to come from a completely different film...

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[–] trixie30 8 years ago

Marketing is marketing. A printed report showing trends in, let's say, phone book distribution and use is going to look at least similar to a printed report showing trends in a specific online shopping website. Yes, it was a bit OTT for him to see what was needed so fast and translate it to the current online business markets, but that he could decipher it wasn't an issue.

[–] rhemerik 8 years ago

Marketing is marketing.

Neh, not really. I doubt someone unfamiliar with social media and web development would know anything about SEO, database analysing, online conversion, cross platform/responsive design, meta tags and that kind of stuff. Much needed for today's marketing.

[–] AntonioDaniels 8 years ago

Seems as though you didn't actually listen to his interpretation of those reports. The takeaways were timeless.

[–] frogca 8 years ago

Agreed. I am not a businessperson and I know crap about marketing, but I could understand what he said in that scene - ie, it looked like the analysis showed different categories and a profitability rating. I could pick that out of the data, too, and make that statement. Could I run the data analysis? No, because I wouldn't know the categories. But it sounds like he did the former, not the latter.