The Internship (2013) Review

I had been trying to watch The Internship for a long time, but never got the time to, and always seemed to forget to check it out.

Since I was a big fan of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson’s Wedding Crashers of 2005, I was really looking forward to seeing the pair re-unite for another epic comedy.

What it got right

I found this movie very funny actually. I laughed particularly hard for the Charles Xavier part, and the back-and-forth between Wilson and Vaughn in general.

The characters were all very interesting, and I loved that they had a team of awesome young misfits with unique abilities, weaknesses and general traits. This clique  did a great job of supporting the main cast.

The villain of the movie was particularly annoying in a kind of mildly Joffrey Baratheon way; I think it might have been his accent. I love a villain that actually annoys you for his character and actions that create obstacles for the protagonists in complex ways and at the perfect moments in the progression of the story. Hats off to the writers (Vince Vaughn himself, and Jared Stern) as well as Max Minghella for playing a pretty convincing villain.

Why it sucks

Firstly, you just get the sense that The internship is one huge PR campaign for Google in terms of how it’s an awesome place to work. And if you thought so (which isn’t uncommon) you’d be 100% right.

The Guardian described it as a ‘PR blowjob for Google‘, which just sounds absolutely terrible. I mean, who comes up with a disgusting headline like that?

Anyway, I think something else that as a young professional, really irked me about this movie was how unrealistic the premise of the main plot was. It’s essentially 2 unqualified, old guys getting a very exclusive internship at one of (if not the) biggest internet technology companies on earth.

Competition is tough, especially in the tech industry, and people who don’t actually have physics majors, who enroll at online colleges just to get in to an internship, well they don’t tend to make it in. It also sends such a crap message about the nature of competition in the industry — but that’s just my opinion. Fine, I know this is a fictitious story, but the whole thing just seems really absurd to me.

Overall, The Internship has a bit of good, and a bit of bad. It’s worth a watch if you’re just looking to pass some time with a decent popcorn movie.

Rating: 6.5 / 10

Memorable moments: Seriously, that professor Xavier part was hilarious!

Awesome quote: “Why did you bring me over to introduce me to this guy? It’s like he was your best friend. You introduced me to Hitler” – Nick, as Billy introduces him to Max.

About the Author: Stephen is a filmmaker, marketer and blogger who seriously wouldn’t mind an internship at Google. That would totally rock!