It is hard to believe that it has been over 7 years since Wedding Crashers. The dynamic duo Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson finally return to the big screen in a GIGANTIC ad for one of the wealthiest companies in the world – Google. Ok, it may not be an ad, it is a 2-hour ad disguised as a movie. The Internship is a movie for our times, in more ways than one. Beyond the constant messaging that “Google is awesome and everyone should work here,” yes, I’m bitter because I’ll never get a job at Google. It is also about starting over and embracing dreams. Anyone who has lost a job or feel like they are stuck in a dead end one will be able to relate to this movie. It isn’t as self-indulgent as Wedding Crashers was.
As two out of work sales people, Vaughn (Billy) and Wilson (Nick) have an excuse to do what they do best – play off of each other with some nice back and forth wordplay. While the script by Vaughn and Stern is solid, it is obvious a large portion of the dialogue with Vaughn and Wilson was made up on the fly. I’ve always loved both of these guys – in small doses. There is a cute moment where they are being interviewed and one of the Google people asks a weird question about being shrunk and stuck in a blend. This is a cue for the Billy and Nick to “vamp” for a few minutes. It is good stick but seemed to go a little too long and they ran out of steam towards the end.
Wilson serves as a nice counterbalance to Vaughn’s manic mannerisms. I’m always curious to know how much of this is really who Vaughn is. Must be exhausting to go talk 100 words a minute all the time it wears me out listening to it. There is a lot of heart and soul in this movie. While the two leads are likeable, the rest of Billy and Nick’s team of loser interns are cardboard cutouts. We have the apparently oversexed Marielena (Jessica Szohr), the surely Stuart (Dylan O’Brien from one of my favorite shows MTV’s Teen Wolf), the self punishing Yo Yo Santos (Tobit Raphael) and team leader Lyle (Big Bang Theory’s Josh Brener).
While they don’t do anything special with their parts, the group have a nice chemistry that works well. I always enjoy seeing Rose Byrne – I loved the first two seasons of Damages, so it’s nice to see her back on the big screen. Here she plays an uptight manager who Nick falls instantly in love with. While there is no chemistry between Wilson and Byrne, the romance works well enough.
The Internship is a strange movie; it is a comedy that has a few light chuckles, but no gut-busting laugh out loud moments. As a social commentary about the current state of the world it largely works. I’m still jealous that I’ll never be able to work at Google. Then again, this movie is all about daring to dream, so maybe I’ll get my application in before everyone has a chance to see this movie.
Final Grade B