The Internship

Imagine this magical place where you have access to whatever you want; free food, entertainment, housing, etc. The only catch is that you have to be one of the best and brightest computer programmers in the world. The job is at Google, and the company has been voted as one of the best places to work multiple years in a row. That’s the basic premise for The Internship.

Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) are old, washed-up watch salesmen who have hit rock bottom. With no other options, they decide to enroll online at the University of Phoenix and apply for an internship at Google, because hey it sounds pretty cool. Despite their severe lack of knowledge about computers, they get in. Now they have to survive the intense program and finish in first place if they want a guaranteed job. Unfortunately for them, they can’t just Google all their answers and be done with it.

It’s normal for films to have various product placement ads or whatever, but when a film is created to be one giant commercial, that’s when we have a problem. Unfortunately, that’s all The Internship is. Google and all its features are displayed front and center as “challenges” the interns must complete in order to earn a fulltime job with the company. Even the location itself is hyped with free food, slides that take you from floor to floor, and nap chambers for when you’ve had a hard day’s work and need a break. Everything you will ever need is at Google so you’ll never have to leave.

That would be fine and all if the film was actually funny. It isn’t. Everyone is so one dimensional that it’s difficult to find anything to laugh about. Billy and Nick are the old timers filled with 80s references. Then there are the stereotypical socially awkward nerds who can’t talk to people, can’t get a date, etc. but are geniuses when it comes to computers. Then apparently everyone else who works or interns at Google is a major asshole. It’s just not funny and frankly quite insulting.

The Internship is a two hour advertisement for Google that fails to impress. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson have fleeting moments of humor but they are few and far between. It’s a dull attempt as selling their product and an even duller attempt at making audiences laugh.