The Internship (2013) Review:

Most of the youth that are either in college or getting out of college are looking for jobs. It's no longer a period in time the jobs are waiting for people to just take them. Students and other people of different ages a like must now fight and prove their worth to the employer. The only people who make it big nowadays are the ones who have the right connections. If someone knows the right person, they could make it into a place that's hard to find for a lot of other job searchers. So what's the best way to try  and secure a job in this day and age? The most common choice would be getting an internship. This is exactly what Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) reach out to do.

The Nick & Billy gang

After discovering that the company they work for has gone bankrupt, salesmen Billy and Nick decide that it's time for them to take a chance step out of their comfort circle and take part in an internship sponsored by Google. Once they get there, they realize that it's going to take more than just sales experience to get through the challenges that lie ahead. The catch is, they can't do it alone - a group is needed. There they join and form a cluster sore thumbs to help complete the required tasks. The best part is, the more time they work together the more they develop as characters, no matter how cliche they may be. But what separates Billy and Nick from the rest is that they are 20 years older than everyone else is, which severely dates them.

The rest of the characters involved in the group are not a breath of fresh air either but become likable over time nonetheless. The group is headed by a Google lead named Lyle (Josh Brener) who tries to help break the ice among the other socially awkward group members by talking in third person and trying to act like he has swag. The audience will also meet Stuart (Dylan O'Brien), a guy with an intense ego and loves checking his phone every 5 minutes. Then there's Yo-Yo (Tobit Raphael), a smart kid who takes challenges too seriously. Finally there's Neha (Tiya Sircar), also a smart girl with several other interests that most girls probably wouldn't project so openly to other people. All around, they make an intriguing hodgepodge of a team. The majority of these actors don’t t have much under their belt but do a decent job portraying their characters.

Thankfully, Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern's writing gave even enough character development to each character that is introduced to the audience. There's even a bit of a love interest with Nick and a woman named Dana (Rose Byrne), although the background to this female isn't expanded upon much. However, this is an aspect that Vaughn and Stern got right - likability of the characters. They really are likable characters, the problem is that over the running time of two hours, it'll take a while to actually feel much for them. The flaw in this lies in the comedy; it's just not that funny. Without comedy it’s harder to portray charm. Rarely did I laugh or even chuckle to a lot of the slapstick. I know I wasn't expecting an all out riot but I also didn't expect to not laugh much either. Again, it's not until the viewer is far into the running time will there actually be points where it could bring out some laughs.

That college life though

Perhaps the one character that is the most fun to watch and listen to is Mr. Chetty (Aasif Mandvi), the man in charge of the internship program. Not only does he exchange some comical remarks with Vince Vaughn's role but also just the way he presents himself. It's surprising though because writer Jared Stern has written for well acclaimed films like The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012) so it's puzzling to why the comical aspects of the film weren't very effective, unless, that was all credit to Mr. Vaughn's part. If there's one thing though to excite viewers is the cinematography and production design of the Google campus. It sure looks like fun. Lastly, Christophe Beck produced the score to the film and although it takes a back seat to more soundtrack music, it still is fairly effective when it's used. That's pretty much it.

The film is watchable with appropriate character development and cool looking production design of the Google campus. However, expecting it to be funny may be asking too much. Very few interactions produce a laugh.

Points Earned --> 6:10