द इंटर्नशिप

Far too often, you see the cast of a movie, the previews, go in with an idea of what to expect, and come out feeling you were duped out of your money. Not so with 'The Internship.' I was reluctant to see it based on some of the poor reviews I'd seen, but my wife, who pays absolutely no attention to reviews whatsoever, is a big fan of both Wilson and Vaughn (sp?), so we took the chance. We both found it to be entertaining and funny, never lagging too long before the next joke. The Google campus proved an interesting site in itself.

Of course it's a bit far-fetched, but who cares. If you like Owen and Vince either separately or together, you will likely enjoy the movie. All of the supporting actors did a commendable job as well.

This is a formula "back to school" type of comedy with lots of product placement and two aging stars going through the motions. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson play the same roles they've played for most of the last decade -- themselves. If you are a big fan of them you can add a point or two to my score because they're the whole show here. The rest of the cast is made up of mostly unknowns playing various stereotypes that are familiar to anybody who has seen a high school or college comedy. They do fine and there are no standouts, good or bad, among them. John Goodman appears in a thankless supporting role. Will Ferrell does one of his usual cameos he does in the movies of his friends. He's worth a chuckle or two. Like I said, the movie is formulaic and predictable but it has a very pleasant upbeat tone throughout and quite a few amusing moments but nothing that will have you bowled over in laughter. There's a ton of product placement for Google. Literally the whole movie. So if that sort of thing bothers you, you might want to skip this one and save yourself the righteous indignation.

Let me preface this by saying I love Vince Vaughn. Its impossible for me to watch any of his comedies without laughing, and I think he's nothing short of a brilliant comic actor. That's why it pains me to write this review.

This movie has funny parts. Nothing that will make you lose control of your bladder, and despite what some people have been writing, this AIN'T no Wedding Crashers. This movie is more like an e mail you got 4 years ago that was hilarious, and someone sent it to you again. You forgot about it, opened it, and remembered how funny it was, but no joke is as funny the second time around. Big lack of originality here and Will Ferrel's character was not remotely funny. Unlike Wedding Crashers "Chaz" this character was more like the Starsky and Hutch cameo. Wasn't impressed with that, wasn't impressed with this.

When you get the same group of actors together for ANOTHER comedy, you better have some seriously different writing. This movie badly needs some situational / physical comedy. Charles Xavier and the antagonist punching people is weak and lazy writing.

There was one Mr. Bean quality situational comic scene in the movie that was brilliant featuring one of the supporting interns at a strip club, and you'll instantly recognize it when you see it. Other than that it relies heavily on jokes in dialog - which aren't bad. They are witty, and Vaugh's delivery is great. It's just that I feel like I've been there and done that. Wilson's love interest felt totally scripted to me - I'm not buying any of that, not for a dime. Waaay too rushed into instant love - kind of like, but even worse than, Wedding Crashers.

If you choose to see this in the theater, go to a matinée. It isn't worth full price. I'd definitely watch it once it hits RedBox or Netflix. Well worth a couple bucks - $30+ at a theater, not so much.

With Bathroom Humor Comedies (Adam Sandler movies, The Hangover, etc) and RomComs being the usual comedic fair at the box office these days, it's refreshing to find a comedy that stands outside of that tiresome trend.

The Internship was a cute movie that certainly has its chuckles. Google is actually a very odd work environment, and the movie makes good points about the depressed state of our modern employment climate for young and old alike. I think the movie tried a little TOO hard to polarize a traditional salesman with the high tech digital age, and some of the Vince Vaughn joke sequences seemed to get a bit tedious. But he played it so seriously that the overall effect was still amusing.

The Vaughn / Wilson pair were VERY sufficiently embarrassing with their overzealous attempts at being team players in projects they didn't understand, and as I have worked deep in the internet business since 1996 I cringed harder than the Google interns who tried to cope with them. I was already a Director level manager in the internet when Google was just being founded, so I've watched the company grow from the ground up, and eventually sponge up the mega-companies that produced my primary worktools (such as Doubleclick). Having been interviewed for management level jobs at Google I can vouch that they can crawl up your ying-yang about your academic record, even if it's from the 80's and you have over a decade of real quality experience to replace it. I've been interviewed by Facebook, Yahoo and Amazon too, and only Facebook can take after Google in this way. It creates the perception of being the Mensa Society of the digital world - pretentious, exclusive, and only for IQ's higher than 170.

That is not really the case, strictly speaking, but there is a culture there of self-importance that the movie bounced our heroes off of, and it worked for some laughs.

All in all it was an enjoyable matinée break, but I probably won't be getting it on Blu-ray.

The Internship (2013)

** (out of 4)

Forty-something friends Billy and Nick (Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson) are out of a job when their company closes. Fearing they have nowhere else to go, they eventually try to get on at Google but first they must go through an internship. THE INTERNSHIP starts off incredibly annoying, grows more annoying but finally towards the last thirty-minutes it picks up but sadly it's way too late to make the thing worth sitting through. I must say that I was really shocked at how unfunny the picture was and it's almost like they didn't have a screenplay to work with. I say this because it really did seem like the director just yelled action and then let Vaughn and Wilson do whatever they wanted. It really does seem as if the two actors are just given the okay to do whatever and this usually includes being annoying and acting "old" and "out of date" with current times. Just take a look at the job interview, which is done through the computer. A lot of comedies are forceful in trying to make you laugh but this thing here pretty much hits you over the head, knocks you out and then drags you into a torture chamber where it begs and pleads with you to laugh. The forcing of the jokes is just tiresome and it's actually pretty boring. I'd say that the majority of the laughs are real duds and only towards the end does the film start to pick up. There's a funny sequence inside a strip joint and there are a couple funny scenes towards the end but the majority of the time the jokes are just flat. As for Vaughn and Wilson, I guess both are just so likable that even when they're in a bad movie you can't help but like them. There's a joke in the film about who would you rather sit at a bar with and the Vaughn and Wilson characters are mentioned. I feel the same way meaning if you have to sit through a bad comedy then perhaps it's best to do so with these two actors. The supporting players are also pretty good but sadly they're just not given anything to do. THE INTERNSHIP has a rather weak idea and does nothing with it.