THE INTERNSHIP (2013)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Shawn Levy
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Max Minghella, Dylan O'Brien, Joanna Garcia, Jessica Szohr, John Goodman, Will Ferrell, Aasif Mandvi, Tiya Sircar, Josh Brener, Josh Gad, Eric Andre, Tobit Raphael
RunTime: 2 hrs
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.theinternshipmovie.com/
 
Opening Day: 22 August 2013

Synopsis:  Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who last teamed in “The Wedding Crashers,” are analog fish-out-of-water in a digital world, in THE INTERNSHIP. They portray out of work -- and out of luck –salesmen who after finagling internships at Google, must compete with candidates half as old and twice as smart, for highly-coveted positions at the internet giant. It’s a brave new world for this old school duo, whose time-tested skills are pitted against their opponents’ high-tech savvy.

Movie Review:

Why it has taken close to a decade to reunite Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson after their comedy smash ‘Wedding Crashers’ is beyond us; but ‘The Internship’ shows that neither Vaughn nor Wilson has lost any chemistry after all those years. As two ace but out-of-work middle-aged salesmen who video-conference their way to a coveted summer internship at Google, the two A-list comedians are the very reasons why the loosely-scripted and perhaps entirely formulaic underdog tale still proves enjoyable.

As with ‘Crashers’, this Shawn Levy-directed film coasts along by the sheer easy interplay between the actors – Vaughn with his glib-but desperate patter and Wilson with his earnest sweetness. Indeed, Vaughn’s screenplay – which he co-wrote with Jared Stern based upon his own story - specifically plays in both dialogue and character to the natural rapport and personality of the two stars, so much so that even their banter over some triviality – like the merits of including Alanis Morissette’s ‘Ironic’ on their ‘Get Psyched’ mix – is so effortlessly engaging.

Thanks to their camaraderie, what is otherwise a two-hour commercial for GoogleWorld comes off much less ingratiating. To be fair, ‘the world’s number one company’ can’t quite be held responsible for this longest example of product placement; it was Vaughn after all who pitched this movie to the company, which then saw no reason not to reject his offer of free publicity.  Nonetheless, the ‘Google is great’ subtext is too blatant to be ignored –whether in terms of endless free food or access to ‘nap-pods’ - and your tolerance for ‘Googliness’ will still affect how much you enjoy this buddy comedy.

Acknowledging the digital divide that exists between the tech-savvy and the tech-goondos in today’s world, Vaughn and Wilson start off as mid-40-somethings that are hopelessly old-school analog idiots. As such narrative trajectories demand, they are ostracised among the other interns who are mostly half their age. But teamed  with a bunch of misfit geek kids in a Hunger Games-like competition where the winners gets the chance at full-time jobs, the seemingly clueless Nick (Wilson) and Billy (Vaughn) get their chance to demonstrate that it isn’t all about tech-speak and tech-knowhow; rather, some old-fashioned teamwork and salesmanship might just make all the difference.

These are interesting observations about the new corporate America, but earnest as the film may be about imparting such wisdom, its approach is as corny as can be, complete with a cringe-inducing climax that sees the band of outcasts triumph the arrogant smarty-pants led by an appropriately cocky Max Minghella. Instead, the film truly comes alive when it simply lets Vaughn and Wilson do what they do best – and that is, play street smart and party-hearty. Easily the film’s funniest sequence has Nick and Billy showing their troupe how to have a wild night out at a strip club, unleashing the inner animal in a clammy high-IQ Asian boy Yo-Yo (Tobit Raphael) with low social skills, a glum cynic Stuart (Dylan O’Brien) whose head is constantly buried in his smartphone, a sexually curious South Asian Neha (Tiya Sircar) and even their socially awkward 23-year-old Google team leader Lyle (Josh Brener).

Outside the club though, Vaughn and Wilson get recurrent amusing gags haggling the intimidating head of their intern programme Mr Chetty (Aasif Mandvi) and a Google staffer Dana (Rose Bryne) respectively.  They also gently riff on ‘X-Men’ and ‘Flashdance’, though the use of the latter does wear out its welcome especially to those who have no inkling of that 80s cultural benchmark. Still, the better moments belong to the ones where Vaughn and Wilson are simply allowed to hang loose and be funny, a last-ditch effort to inject some dramatic tension with Vaughn’s departure from the team prior to their crucial last task resolved in a deus-ex-machina that rings hollow.

Like we said earlier, this is a film that runs entirely on the exceedingly affable, good-natured charm of its two leads. To his credit, Levy does a fair job keeping the film light-hearted yet pacey, while giving Vaughn and Wilson the space to exercise their considerable improvisational comedy gifts. Put aside the Google-oogling, and what you have is an opportunity to simply chill with two funny old pals, who Crash-ed their way out of a Wedding eight years earlier and are back for a reunion that feels every bit as delightful. 

Movie Rating:

(Coasting on Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's effortless chemistry, this extended Google ad is still extremely affable, good-natured fun)

Review by Gabriel Chong