Making a film about technology is tricky, mainly because movies can take a long time to get completed, meaning the technology the story talks about may not even be relevant, or even exist, by the time the film is released. That’s why most movies with technology that’s essential to the plot are set in the future, wherein the technology is created solely for the movie, and thus can’t become dated. “The Internship” is about Google, in which Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson learn life lessons and inspire others while being interns for the company. The results are a mixed bag, one that doesn’t have much humor as much as it has an admittedly inspiring story about underdogs trying to achieve glory.
Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) are uber successful salesman, who wind up jobless when their company goes broke. Desperate for employment, Billy discovers an amazing opportunity: be interns at Google for the summer. Unfortunately, the duo is way out of touch with modern technology and are immediately outcasts amongst the other interns. Luckily, they discover other misfits, including awkward, rap-speaking Lyle (Josh Brener) and distant tech-obsessed Stuart (Dylan O’Brien), who give them insight on the world of technology. At the same time, Billy and Nick teach the group all that the world around has to offer them beyond technology.
There are very few actors I can’t stand: Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Julia Roberts, Adam Sandler, Hayden Christensen (did I mention Adam Sandler?) and Vince Vaughn. Personally, he is one of the most despicable actors working in Hollywood, his smarmy personality more repellent than any bug spray could ever pray to be. The mere visual image of his cocky smile makes me bristle in terror at his overwhelming sense of his over inflated ego. Playing the same character in every one of his films, he winds up less entertaining all the while torturing any audience member caught in his path.
In the first act of the film I thought I was in for a more excruciating experience than any that could be found at Guantanamo Bay. At first, it’s just Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn joking around and it’s horrible to witness. Their webcam interview with Google higher-ups may be the most awkwardly unfunny scene in any “comedy” this year. Wilson, who it’s sad to see back in this dreck after appearing in the perfect “Midnight In Paris”, is working with what he can here but at first, he’s grasping at straws with the script fully relying on Vaughn’s atrocious personality. As you can imagine, that doesn’t work out, making even a Will Ferrell cameo fall flat (although good ol’ Will does get the only real laugh in the first 20 minutes, with a gag about a tattoo on his neck supplying a hearty chuckle)
Thankfully, once the actual Internship begins, some new cast members come in and things perk up considerably. The jokes don’t usually go beyond “OMG! Vince and Owen are soooo old! #awkotaco”, which is a pity since many of these actors playing the plucky interns are actually funny (especially Josh Brener, who I remember seeing in “The Big Bang Theory” and on a phone commerical last summer). Once the film allows these characters to interact and become fully fledged people, the movie finally becomes engaging to watch, even if it becomes an overly predictable affair by the end.
Contrary to what the two leads may have you think, this film is less R-rated humor like “Wedding Crashers” and more of the inspiring yet still humorous “Dodgeball”, another PG-13 comedy Vaughn made for 20th Century Fox. “The Internship” doesn’t balance it’s humor and sentimental inspiration as well as “Dodgeball”; in fact “The Internship” has hardly any really hilarious moments, a shame since most of the cast is more than capable of crafting perfect comedy. To boot, the story is a bit of a mess, since it never has the guts to do anything really interesting, instead simply choosing the more predictable story routes for it’s characters to travel down.
Despite such blatant predictability though, I will say I was mildly interested in these characters plight, especially since it involves the fantastic Josh Gad in a small but essential bit role. Even this decent ending is marred by the fact that it seems overly reminiscent of the ending to “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, ironic due to a game of Quidditch being played on the Google campus prior to the finale (is it sad that I understood all the wizard lingo some of the Potter nerds were speaking he Quidditch scene?).
It’s got some solid cast members, and a great director in Shawn Levy (who previously did the “Night At The Museum” movies and “Date Night”) However, aside from a clever credits sequence, the film doesn’t really have much innovation, instead settling for predictability and lame comedy in lieu of actual hilarity. Add in it’s perplexingly blatant Google product placement, nauseating lead in the form of Vince Vaughn and an undeniably quality supporting cast, and you get “The Internship”; a movie that is far from horrible, but also wastes an immeasurable amount of potential.
