Film Review: "The Internship" (2013).

"Eight years ago, they crashed weddings. Now, they're about to crash the system" in The Internship. This comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and written by Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern. Billy and Nick are salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital world. Trying to prove they are not obsolete, they defy the odds by talking their way into a coveted internship at Google, along with a battalion of brilliant college students. But, gaining entrance to this utopia is only half the battle. Now they must compete with a group of the nation's most elite, tech-savvy geniuses to prove that necessity really is the mother of re-invention.

Vaughn came up with the idea after watching a 60 Minutes segment on Google's work culture, and subsequently brought the idea to Levy. Levy accepted and signed on to direct. By early July 2012, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Max Minghella, Aasif Mandvi, Josh Brener, Dylan O'Brien, Tobit Raphael, Tiya Sircar, Josh Gad, John Goodman, Jessica Szohr, B. J. Novak, Rob Riggle, Joanna García Swisher, and Will Ferrell were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in late September. Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia, and at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which posed as a double for the Googleplex, since the company normally does not allow filming on the actual Googleplex for security and productivity reasons. Google agreed to work with the film producers, with founder Larry Page noting that "computer science has a marketing problem." Google also felt it would help further explain their "Don't be evil" mantra. Although Reuters reported that as part of the deal Google asked for "creative control", Levy denied the company was involved with the script, insisting that Google only assisted from a "technical" perspective. CNN reported that the studio did give "some control" to Google over the depiction of its products. Google allowed the film to shoot for only five days at the Googleplex Headquarters. The film used one hundred real Google employees as extras.

The film stars Vaughn, Wilson, Byrne, Minghella, Mandvi, Brener, O'Brien, Raphael, Sircar, Gad, Goodman, Szohr, Novak, Riggle, Swisher, and Ferrell. The film's best element is the inspired casting of Vaughn and Wilson; their easy repartee helps to grease over the film's shortcomings. The likes of the sneakily subversive Wilson and Vaughn deserve better... but this is darn close to a perfect showcase for what they can do, and how much better they do it together. The two actors make a good contrasting team and bring an energy to the story that many romantic comedies lack. Vaughn and Wilson handle their comedic duties with the ease and flair of a seasoned team, maybe the second-coming of Hope and Crosby.

Operating on the principle that lame verbal and visual gags are funny if the audience is repeatedly pummeled with them, the film sorely lacks a strong script and the kind of inventive direction unworthy of its talented leads. Sadly, in spite of its cast and seemingly can't-miss premise, Wedding Crashers is at its best a succession of mild chuckles.

Simon says The Internship receives:

Also, see my review for Real Steel.