The cinematic reunion of actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson begins this weekend as their new movie The Internship is ready to hit theatres.
Nobody was begging for the duo to make another movie together and if it happened at all they probably expected a sequel to their last hit, Wedding Crashers. What we get instead is a by-the-numbers comedy that takes corporate branding to another level and in the process manages to be innocuous entertainment.
Vaughn and Wilson play Billy and Nick, two fast-talking salesmen whose names are as forgettable as the products they sell. After a long run in the corporate hustle they find themselves out of a job as the digital age renders them obsolete. No backup plan and a touch of desperation lead them to gamble on a long-shot internship at the one-and-only Google. You read that right, two analog guys with no digital experience are going to gamble it all by dropping everything and moving to California to try out for an internship at one of the world’s biggest companies. That last sentence may read a bit cynical but let me assure you that despite every story beat being telegraphed a mile away, The Internship has a goofy, infectious charm that makes the movie very watchable.
Early reviews have focused on The Internship playing like a 90-minute commercial for Google in which our heroes put the tech giant on a giant pedestal and make its mammoth campus look like the best place on Earth. That seems like an easy target to pin on a movie that doesn’t aspire to do much in the first place. In a world where Iron Man 3 pretends to be shy about product placement with a deceitful grin, it’s refreshing to see The Internship shamelessly embrace its corporate branding. It may not be for everyone but at least there’s no hiding its message. It’s honest about being dishonest.
The Internship is a disposable movie about two average guys overcoming the odds, a story told many times before. The fact that it has a technical spin this time around barely changes the formula and the real spice doesn’t come from brand recognition at all but from Vaughn and Wilson. They know they’re in an A-B-C story structure and make the most of it by bringing their trademark dopey charm to this recognizable underdog story. Sometimes the jokes don’t work – but they mostly do, enough to make The Internship a worthwhile distraction at the movies.
Grade: B-
Rated: PG-13 (for sexuality, some crude humor, partying and language)
The Internship opens in theaters on June 7, 2013.
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