Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Intern 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Old dog, new tricks.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 24, 2024

Perhaps a slight outlier among Warner Bros.' three new 4K MOD upgrades this month (the other two being Vacation and Tag), Nancy Meyers' comparatively more mature romantic friendship comedy The Intern wrings a decent amount of good will and charm from a premise that could've been disastrous or creepy in the wrong hands. Starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway in roles that feel like a perfect fit for the different stages of their respective careers, The Intern enjoyed a warm theatrical reception to match and stood as yet another reliable hit for the director.

For a synopsis and appreciation of the main feature, please see Michael Reuben's review of Warner Bros.' 2016 Blu-ray. (It's worth noting that this home video release date occurred just a month or so before the first wave of UHD discs hit the market, so this is clearly not a case of shrewd double-dipping by the studio.) I agree with Michael's sentiments about the film and seemed to enjoy it about as much as he did, so there's nothing more to add here.

The Intern 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots have been sourced from the 4K disc and down-converted to 1080p/SDR, which means that they should not be considered a 100% accurate depiction of the picture quality during playback.

All three of Warner Bros.' MOD 4K upgrades this month are technically "just" 2K upscales, but the depth and clarity on display in this new 2160p/HDR (Dolby Vision capable) transfer of The Intern consistently tests the boundaries of what such upscales are capable of. To be fair, Michael Reuben was rightly overwhelmingly positive in his judgment of Warner Bros.' 2016 Blu-ray, whose only odd detour from pure visual accuracy seemed to be its open-matte 1.78:1 aspect ratio. (Much like the August 4K release of Focus, that open-matte ratio has been maintained here.) Simply put, this is a film of almost jaw-dropping clarity despite rather sterile backgrounds... at least those shot in the office, where fluorescent light seems to overpower natural light by at least a factor of 2:1. Yet the film's carefully staged scenes and other much warmer locations make The Intern an unusually attractive film in its genre, one with intermittent yet healthy amounts of warmly-saturated color, incredible depth, carefully-controlled contrast, and of course stunning fine detail. The 1.78:1 image obviously only magnifies this illusion, of course. It's also part of the reason why this film has been authored on a full-strength triple-layered (100 GB) disc, one that features absolutely zero noticeable compression artifacts and simply lets everything play flawlessly from start to finish. I've absolutely no complaints at all regarding this new transfer: it might seem like overkill under the circumstances, but fans and first-timers won't mind one bit.

The Intern 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warner Bros. presents The Intern with the same straightforward but robust DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix found on their Blu-ray; I can't imagine that an Atmos remix would've added all that much to the proceedings, so it stands as a suitably crisp and active presentation that gets the job done. Please note that WB has not carried over the Blu-ray's French, Spanish, and Portuguese dubs and subtitles or the English Descriptive Audio track, equipping this 4K disc with only a lone optional set of English (SDH) subtitles during the film only. I know this is probably a cost-cutting measure, but it seems like a fairly noticeable step backwards considering that this format is region-free.

The Intern 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc MOD (pressed, not burnt) release ships in a standard keepcase with recycled cover artwork and no slipcover or Digital Copy are included. Fittingly, the lightweight but enjoyable assortment of Blu-ray bonus features described by Michael Reuben in his review of the 2018 Blu-ray have been carried over and are listed below.

• The Three Interns (5:46)

• Learning from Experience (4:46)

• Designs on Life (6:07)

The Intern 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Nancy Meyers' likeable comedy The Intern favors platonic friendship over romance and thankfully sticks to that plan, standing decently tall as a thoughtful crowd-pleaser with solid performances by Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. This was my first time seeing the film and it'll get intermittent replays for sure, and not even necessarily on "movie date night". Warner Bros' 2018 Blu-ray was and still is a fine home video package, but this welcome UHD upgrade features one of the best upscaled 4K transfers I've seen on the format to date. All other aspects remain the same so, while casual fans may not consider this a "must-have", it's clearly the strongest home video edition available.