The Internship (2013)
** (out of 4)
Forty-something friends Billy and Nick (Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson) are out of a job when their company closes. Fearing they have nowhere else to go, they eventually try to get on at Google but first they must go through an internship. THE INTERNSHIP starts off incredibly annoying, grows more annoying but finally towards the last thirty-minutes it picks up but sadly it's way too late to make the thing worth sitting through. I must say that I was really shocked at how unfunny the picture was and it's almost like they didn't have a screenplay to work with. I say this because it really did seem like the director just yelled action and then let Vaughn and Wilson do whatever they wanted. It really does seem as if the two actors are just given the okay to do whatever and this usually includes being annoying and acting "old" and "out of date" with current times. Just take a look at the job interview, which is done through the computer. A lot of comedies are forceful in trying to make you laugh but this thing here pretty much hits you over the head, knocks you out and then drags you into a torture chamber where it begs and pleads with you to laugh. The forcing of the jokes is just tiresome and it's actually pretty boring. I'd say that the majority of the laughs are real duds and only towards the end does the film start to pick up. There's a funny sequence inside a strip joint and there are a couple funny scenes towards the end but the majority of the time the jokes are just flat. As for Vaughn and Wilson, I guess both are just so likable that even when they're in a bad movie you can't help but like them. There's a joke in the film about who would you rather sit at a bar with and the Vaughn and Wilson characters are mentioned. I feel the same way meaning if you have to sit through a bad comedy then perhaps it's best to do so with these two actors. The supporting players are also pretty good but sadly they're just not given anything to do. THE INTERNSHIP has a rather weak idea and does nothing with it.
