The Internship - Movie Review

Rating: 3 out of 5

This Wedding Crashers reunion has enough snappy dialog to keep us laughing even if the film itself feels like little more than a two-hour Google advert. Thankfully, Vaughn and Wilson are back on form after a number of flabby roles, and they keep the energy levels high enough to distract us from the fact that there's virtually nothing to either the character or the plot.

They play Billy and Nick, salesmen who are left unemployed when their company closes down. Nick finds a new job with his tattooed brother-in-law (Ferrell), but Billy talks him into ditching it for a summer internship at Google, where they join a mob of teen brainiacs in a battle for permanent jobs. Their ethnically diverse team of misfits (including O'Brien, Sircar and Raphael) is led by 23-year-old Lyle (Brener), and after a series of mishaps they begin to work together, surprising their aggressive rival (Minghella) and the intern programme director (Mandvi). Meanwhile, Nick flirts comically with Google exec Dana (Byrne).

This is a deeply lazy script that can't even be bothered to differentiate between the personalities of Billy and Nick, let alone anyone else on screen. Each person is defined by a couple of superficial characteristics, so there are no actual relationships between anyone. Billy and Nick aren't even allowed a hint of bromance. And it's simply insulting how the screenplay makes these two "old" men illiterate about both computers and culture (they've never heard of X-men?). Of course, they also teach the kids a lot about partying away from computer screens.

But what this film is really about is Google itself, presenting its headquarters as something akin to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, with bright colours, free food and spiral slides. The internship competition is played out as a "mental Hunger Games" complete with a raucous Quidditch match. These surreal touches, plus a constant stream of hilarious one-liners, make the film entertaining against the odds. It may be predictable and stupid, but it keeps us laughing.

Facts and Figures

Year: 2013

Genre: Comedy

Run time: 119 mins

In Theaters: Friday 7th June 2013

Box Office USA: $44.7M

Box Office Worldwide: $44M

Budget: $58M

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Production compaines: TSG Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Regency Enterprises, Wild West Picture Show Productions, 21 Laps Entertainment

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 3 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 34%
Fresh: 54 Rotten: 103

IMDB: 6.3 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Shawn Levy

Producer: Shawn Levy, Vince Vaughn

Screenwriter: Vince Vaughn, Jared Stern

Starring: Owen Wilson as Nick Campbell, Vince Vaughn as Billy McMahon, Tiya Sircar as Neha, Rose Byrne as Lyle, Josh Gad as Headphones, Jessica Szohr as Marielena, Aasif Mandvi as Mr. Chetty, Josh Brener as Lyle, Tobit Raphael as Yo-Yo Santos, Dylan O'Brien as Stuart, Max Minghella as Graham Hawtrey, Rob Riggle as Randy, Eric André as Sid, Harvey Guillen as Zach, Gary Anthony Williams as Bob Williams, Will Ferrell as Mattress Salesman (uncredited), John Goodman as Nick and Billy's Boss (uncredited), B. J. Novak as Male Interviewer

Also starring: Chuti Tiu, Shawn Levy