The Internship - Review

The Internship – Review

“The Internship” starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson,  Rose Byrne, John Goodman and a cameo by Will Ferrell tells the story of two high end  wrist watch sales men Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) who are also each other’s best friend.

In the beginning of the film we see the two having a dinner with a frequent long standing customer. But early on in the dinner meeting as the two were making their closing “tried and true sales pitch” Billy and Nick surprisingly learned that their boss had called their customer earlier that day to tell him that his wrist watch business had suddenly gone out of business; basically ending Billy’s and Nick’s 20 plus careers. Apparently unbeknownst to the two, cell phones and other digital devices have completely torpedoed the need for personal watches as the current generation of professionals rely more on their Smart Phones for the current time.

Trying to prove they are not professionally obsolete, they go out to defy their lack of ambition over the years by going against the odds of changing careers by cleverly talking their way into a highly coveted internship at Google. Here the two fish out of water  “Nooglers” find themselves among an array of uniquely brilliant college graduates all running an intellectual gauntlet of hoping that they take their unpaid summer internships into new ambitious careers at the prestigious company.

However, Billy and Nick soon discover with all of their years of personal work experience and street smart, gaining permanent entrance into this utopian company is both a trying battle with much smarter elite, tech-savvy geniuses but also a challenge with themselves to realize the importance of optimism and self worth.

Overall, “The Internship” at its core has a rather sweet, sentimental and life reaffirming sprit to its story as Vaughn and Wilson genuinely have a natural charisma as actors that make them seem like real warm and personable friends. The problem with the film is that the first hour plus was never really funny or interesting with Will Ferrell’s presence adding nothing to the film at all. Also, Vaughn, Wilson and the supporting cast of characters in the beginning of the movie seem to execute their lines rather clumsily in a way that seemed more like a shoe in a spin cycle sounding like frantic bantering noise. There was a lot of talking between characters but not really saying anything interesting or meaningful to each other at all.

It’s only in the last 35 minutes of the film where some elements of grounded direction start to shine through. Specifically the ensemble of actors start to connect a bit, the dialogue seemed more relaxed and natural and personal relationships start to feel more rooted.

Ultimately, “The Internship” was largely a disappointment mostly because it didn’t take its credible cues from the story’s ending and apply them to the 75% rest of the film. 

2 – 1/4 Stars