Review of The Internship (2013) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This film features lots of fast dialogue and I mean fast (coming from someone who can talk quite quickly herself). Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn play as good friends, in a sort of a buddy cop film way, only their more like slightly bungling semi-simpletons, rather than cops. Ok perhaps 'simpletons' is a bit of a harsh term to use, maybe guys next door trying to one-up-themselves would be more applicable a term, if that makes sense?.

This is very much an American film, unsurprisingly and I say that in as much as there are a lot of Americanisms present in the script/dialogue - you know, terms such as 'no way', 'oh my gosh' etc. this might put some people off this film but then I suppose its to be expected of a film like this, about a very successful American company, of which the regular joes want to be a part of its success. Its a film that features a lot of gimmicks, young people trying to out-do one another, talking down to others, hoping to be spotted as 'people with potential'. Perhaps I should also warn that Owen Wilson demonstrates a rather cringe-y English accent, in hopes of appealing to another employee.

The film is quite fast paced once the main plot builds up - the very start (for the first 20-30 minutes or thereabouts) is a bit slow and drab. I found it interesting to see how Google was shown as a place to work - it reminded me of the film 'The Social Network', which portrayed Facebooks rise to popularity and as part of that, the workforce and ethos that emerged. Thematically speaking, this seemed very much a tale of two underdogs, a very popular theme in American films. It questions the truth of the well known saying that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'. I think the term self re-invention also plays a part. Of course there's also the 'American Dream' aspect present, which is mentioned in the dialogue.

This is primarily a comedy film and I found there were certainly some funny moments, most of which were fairly obvious - I wouldn't say its a particularly original film, the comedy is fairly immature, there's visual comedy, there's comedy relating to romance I suppose, when they try to impress people but it goes embarrassingly wrong.

While I felt it was a fairly entertaining film, it didn't feel particularly impressive overall but it was amusing in parts, so I can't completely criticise it, despite it feeling somehow like a lazy film. I think this film reminded me of the film 'Wedding Crashers', probably as that also starred Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as a pair of rebellious men acting rather immaturely, who in that film tried to get dates from grieving women at funerals(!). Perhaps it'd more accurate to describe this as a mix of that film and 'Drillbit Taylor', in which Owen Wilson plays an out of work, down on his luck guy who ends up being hired by a group of desperate secondary school boys needing a bouncer to keep their bullies away. Middle aged men acting half their age isn't really particularly original or very exciting material. There is also a cheesiness to it towards the end, with some scenes being particularly fast paced and frenetic, while there are some much slower paced scenes, when there are only a couple of characters chatting to each other, often giving pep talks.

Cast wise, as I've already mentioned the two main actors (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn) have appeared in at least a couple of similar films and so their roles in this film are by no means a challenge for them but then I suppose they wouldn't be a challenge for most actors in general, as their pretty laidback, even self indulgent characters. Other cast members include Rose Byrne, who plays love interest Dana and Aasif Mandvi, who plays one of the mentors or tutors, Mr. Chetty, someone who looks very sceptically towards Billy and Nick.

I suppose it depends on what your looking for. While this film is really quite cheesy and certainly not very original thematically speaking and so on, it is an easy watch, its not in any way a complicated and overly long drawn out film, once the main plot starts it becomes quite fast paced and there are a few amusing moments which made me smirk, if not laugh out loud, so it isn't awful, its just pretty middle of the road I suppose. I had been curious to watch this for some time, to see how Google as a workplace and employer was portrayed and I did enjoy watching it to an extent, I just couldn't help but feel the script was very average and there was scope for more. Anyway, as far as recommending it is concerned, I suppose im undecided as it'd depend if your looking for an easy watch to switch off and be entertained by, in which case I'd say its worth a watch, so I guess I would recommend it, or if your looking for a high quality comedy/drama fully tackling the related issues, in which case this may disappoint you and thus I wouldn't recommend it.