The Internship
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne
Directed By: Shawn Levy
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi

[rating: 3/5]

One could be forgiven for seeing the premise of this movie as a double edged sword. On the one hand, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are doing a comedy together again. Sure, they haven’t done many amazing things lately but how great was The Wedding Crashers? On the other hand, The Internship reeks of the opportunity for gross, unadulterated product placement and overt advertising. Surprisingly, this wasn’t  the case.

The film opens on Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson), two well-worn wristwatch salesmen, as they find out the company they work for has gone bankrupt and they no longer have a job. After Billy’s girlfriend dumps him he goes on a mission to find the best possible place for him and Nick to work and comes across the mecca of all workplaces, Google. The only problem is that they need to place an Internship and then win the job through a series of tasks and contests against hundreds of other hungry, ambitious young adults who actually have the skill sets required to work in a place like Google. When these two older, unskilled men are left over after the rest of the Interns choose their own groups, they have to prove to the other young and variably awkward Interns they’re grouped with that they can hack it in a job like this, and maybe even teach them some life lessons along the way.

The ‘Google’ part of the premise may have a few people wary about this film, but it’s a quite needless worry as The Internship has no more product placement than any other Hollywood film today. Sure, the word Google is plastered all over the place but that’s unavoidable when it’s set in the Google offices. It could easily have turned into a parade of showcasing Google’s initiative technology cheaply worked into the plot and played for laughs, but even the forthcoming Google Glass doesn’t make a cameo appearance. Don’t worry though, John Goodman and Will Ferrell do and they more than make up for Google Glass’ absence.

The real shiner for this film is the cast. While this isn’t the most inventive, laugh out loud comedy you’ll see it’s definitely got its merits and the seasoned (and unseasoned) cast do their darndest to make the script shine. Prepare yourself for a pleasant sense of nostalgia as Vince Vaughn’s baritones waft over you as he quickly spurts out sentence after sentence at breakneck speed and Owen Wilson’s wispy, boyish locks blow in the breeze as he plays his usual earnest nice-guy self and you think to yourself ‘How many times has this guy broken his nose, again?’. Accompany this with the lovely and Australian-accented Rose Byrne and the welcome and fresh young faces of Tya Sircar, Tobit Raphael, Josh Brener and Dylan O’Brien, you’ll find yourself at the very least pleasantly smiling your way through this  surprisingly short feeling 2 hour film.

Sure, it’s not a very inspired story and even sounds a bit hackneyed at first but in a day where comedy seems to be flooded with The Hangover’s and Movie 43’s it’s actually refreshing to find a comedy that relies on old school wit, banter and jokes to portray it’s humour rather than gross out stunts and overtly sexualised scenarios played for laughs. The Internship has a clear message, a great cast and a surprisingly charming sense of humour that may actually have you chuckling a fair bit in between munches of popcorn.