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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: York Home Video
Salesrank: 134653
Released: September 26, 2000 |
| Our Price: $4.22 |
| Used Price: $4.09 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Dominique Swain, best known as Lolita in the 1998 Adrian Lyne remake and the knife-wielding daughter in Face-Off, shows off her gift for romantic comedy in this lightweight little confection. Interning at glossy fashion magazine "Skirt," her inexperienced but plucky and charming Jocelyn jumps at the often outlandish commands of her editors and nurses a crush on the magazine's assistant art director (Ben Pullen) while waiting for her big break, specifically a paying position. The high-strung editorial staff includes Joan Rivers (who barks up a storm with new ideas on wheelchair chic), Peggy Lipton, Kathy Griffin, Anna Thompson, and Paulina Porizkova as a former model who can't shake her starvation diet. "She had an apple two days ago," someone comments after she faints. "That can't be it," nods another.
The ostensible plot involves industrial espionage and the campaign to flush out "the Yuri," a spy sending all their upcoming ideas to arch-rival Vogue that Jocelyn vows to uncover, but that's just another complication in the wacky world of haute couture. Crammed with insider jokes, industry potshots, and an army of cameos only fashion devotees will recognize, from Diane von Fürstenberg to Tommy Hilfiger (for the rest of us there's Gwyneth Paltrow for a few brief seconds), it's an old fashioned romantic comedy with a new wardrobe. It's Swain's engaging performance and Michael Lange's genial direction that mellow the caustic barbs and invest it with a sense of heart. --Sean Axmaker
The Intern Reviews:
Fashionably Bad 
2005-09-28 - I won't claim that this is the worst movie ever although many would award it at least a honorable mention. I watched this because "Dominique Swain" is one of the stars; she is the only one associated with this thing who has actually been able to find real work in the industry since its release. This was her first real career stumble and she probably wishes now that she had used an assumed name and worn a mask.
Imagine film students Leah and Vincenzo from the cable show "Film School" (The Tisch School of the Acts at NYU) collaborating on a feature length pseudo-documentary as their class project. They talk Swain into going with them to a New York City fashion magazine office for a couple of days. They tell the office staff that everyone has won a free week of acting for the camera lessons. They get another $10,000 from Parker and Jennifer to buy film (Parker's Visa card again), and reuse their script from 1999 when they made the unwatchable (and fortunately unwatched) "Fashionably LA".
Apparently the objective of the screenplay is to show the "real world" of fashion modeling through the eyes of an intern. The intern is played nicely by Swain who manages to inject some wry humor into many of her scenes and to somehow restrain herself from totally overwhelming the inexperienced cast around her (hence two stars instead of one).
The problem is that the premise, "blowing the lid off the fashion magazine scene", is of interest only to insiders who already know everything the film is about to reveal. Which is pretty much the same with any vocation. What next, a movie that "blows the lid off the Cincinnati CPA scene"?
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Give It A Break 
2005-01-23 - Bad reviews abound for this straight-to-video feature - lot's of ugly sniping about the fashion business, gay stereotypes, superficiality, etc. But, please, let's get real here. Not every movie has to have deep subtext and meaning - especially not movies about the fashion business. Written and executive produced by Jill Kopelman, (daughter of the owner of the House of Chanel) and Caroline Doyle, the inside jokes and cameos run rampant in a movie that just misses being very clever. With a dreary romantic comedy subplot, Dominique Swain, most notable for *Lolita*, plays Jocelyn, an intern at *Skirt* magazine, who becomes involved in fashion espionage. A very thin premise, to be sure, with a John Waters-ish feel to it, but with a breathless E! TV approach to fashion and comedy. Also like a John Waters film, *Intern* depends heavily on onscreen slapstick and cameo performances- though since it's not John Waters, of course, we miss seeing Patty Hearst. Peggy Lipton is a pleasant surprise as Fashion Editor, Roxanne Rochet, a typical fashion victim, given to such statements as "Forget the herbal wrap - I want a Himalayan rejuvenation lichen-berry acid peel." She and her staff are complete caricatures of fashionistas (they are devoting nine pages of their current issue to making wheelchairs the chic accessory), but they are right on the money - especially Leilani Bishop as the vacuous, self-absorbed supermodel, and David Deblinger as the queeny art director. Paulina Porizkova, Anna Thompson, and comedienne Kathy Griffin are a little one-dimensional, but funny as well. Joan Rivers is Joan Rivers, and that's all we need to say about that. As stated earlier, it's not a particularly deep movie, but to paraphrase Karl Lagerfeld, fashion is not the same thing as feeding the hungry and curing the ill.
its cute 
2003-07-31 - I don't know what everyone is on about, that this movie is bad. Ok, it may only be for a limited crowd-fashion people and people who follow that world, but I thought it was really cute.
Dominique Swain plays the "pathetic lowly intern" really well, and Ben Pullen as the love interest is really cute. They play well together.
The supporting cast is exactly the sort of people I'd expect to find at a fashion magazine. Considering some of the divas present in fashion, those people seem to underplay. Severely.
I'd say to the critics-give this movie another chance. Its not Citizen Kane. Maybe Citizen Kane for the fashion set.
Dominique Swain in a wonderful romantic comedy of the...... 
2003-01-26 - Hell Iterns have to go thru...this is a very intertaining film about a iterns rise for respect, a career and for the love she wants to see the beauty in her.....
love this movie....
Fashion funny!!
2002-10-22 - I'm not a big Dominique Swain fan, so I can't really comment on the other reviews about this not being her best performance. In fact, this movie really shouldn't be considered a "Classic," but if you like fashion and are interested in the fashion industry, I think you'll find this movie very funny.
I loved the cameos by Gwenyth Paltrow, Kevyn Aucoin, Kenneth Cole, etc. I thought the movie was to be taken tongue-in-cheek. It isn't rocket science, it's fashion!! The plot is about a young woman working at a fashion magazine (Skirt Magazine) as an intern. While she is there, it is discovered that there is a "Yuri" (a spy leaking insider info to their competitor, Vogue Magazine).
If you love fashion as much as I do and are looking for a fun, no brainer movie to watch, I recommend The Intern.
