‘The Internship’ Review: A Predictable Bromance

From

Two middle-aged salesmen Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) are old school dudes that sell watches, an almost antique item of little actual importance (for anything more than a fashion statement) in today’s world. After they learn that the company they work for has folded, they find themselves starting over with few actual skills other than their ability to sell almost anything – including theirselves. And this is exactly what they do – sell themselves as viable options for the Google internship program.

For some reason, Google decides that they’ll bring something new to the table… something unconventional, so Billy and Nick move to California and start the internship program which apparently lasts all summer (tho seems to be a week in the film)… Which brings me to one of my major issues with this film – its total disregard for the concept of time. For example, Billy goes to what we’re led to believe is Miami at one point, and Nick goes to bring him back as their team has a challenge they have to complete by the afternoon. Google, in case you didn’t know, is located in Mountain View, California. A flight from one side of the country to the other and back would be an all day activity, yet he makes it back in time to take part in the challenge. If this was just supposed to be down the street – the film did not make a good job of making that clear. This is also just one example (of many) of the time-travel capabilities that this film possess. Time… psh… we don’t need to worry about making that believable. Which perhaps they don’t – I mean we are talking about two dudes that Google would never look twice at anyways.

Enough of my time rant though – back to the film’s description. It wouldn’t be a cookie-cutter comedy without the romantic element either. Nick finds himself crushing on Dana (Rose Byrne), who seems to be a bigwig at Google. However, this entire subplot could be removed from the film without any effect on the actual movie.

The goal here is clear – create another comedy as magical as 2005’s Wedding Crashers with the same dream team duo. But ultimately the concept behind The Internship isn’t as believable or buyable as that of Wedding Crashers. The actual likelihood of two individuals like this getting a gig at Google is pretty low (Yes, I’ve known I’ve said this a few times now).

One thing that I will say was super cool about The Internship is that it’s “Made in Georgia” entertainment. The movie filmed in Atlanta late last summer and transformed the Georgia Tech campus into Google’s headquarters. Seeing how that transform happened both in person and then on the big screen was quite impressive. You would have never known that the majority of the movie filmed at Georgia Tech. They did an incredible job at the set design and at re-creating Google.

Overall, The Internship has cute moments and offers a handful of laughs that were likely improved moments from Vaughn and Wilson. It’s not a great movie, the laughs that it offers aren’t witty or new, but if you go in with low expectations – it can be fun. But if you want a truly great comedy – wait one more week for This Is The End. While it may be far more vulgar and inappropriate – it’s also far more awesome.

Grade: C-
Review By: Emma Loggins