Tern back time

I've been doing my best to catch up on my movie reviews and now it turns out I can actually do one BEFORE a movie is widely released in theaters. Earlier this week I caught a sneak preview of The Internship, the first re-teaming of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson since 2005's Wedding Crashers. It's pretty remarkable to think that it's taken this long to get these two back on screen together considering how successful that film was and the struggles both men have had at recapturing that greatness alone since then.

In this new outing, they play a couple of struggling watch salesmen who find themselves being squeezed out of their own industry. In the sales world, the human being is going the way of the dinosaur it seems. Desperate to stay relevant, Vaughn's Billy comes up with the idea of having him and Wilson's Nick apply for an internship at Google. Despite not being in the typical demographic of who gets selected, these two guys manage to earn a chance of vying for the position. Once on Google's campus, they compete with a group of young, tech-savvy nerds in a series of "mental Hunger Games" for one of the internship slots.

A lot has been and will continue to be made about the proliferation of Google in this movie. Some critics have gone so far as to say the movie is nothing more than a 2 hour commercial for the search engine. I, however, did not take much issue with this. Yes, they likely could have told the same story using a completely fake tech company, but I never felt as if I was constantly being persuaded to use their services. The inclusion of Google seems organic to the story and creates a unique atmosphere that feels different than if this were set on an average college campus or corporate office. In fact, I probably had a tougher time with the Miller Lite product placement, than I did with Google. That seemed way more forced than their use of Google.

What didn't feel forced was the performances and friendship of Vaughn and Wilson. They pick right up where they left off with the fast-talking, laid-back fun they so easily conveyed in Crashers. What's more, there seems to be an energy to their performances that hasn't been seen from either of them in a long time as well. Vaughn, especially has seemed like he's phoned it in on a lot of his recent comedies, so it was nice to see him get excited with a role once again (this may partially have to do with the fact that Vaughn also co-wrote the script). No doubt if you were a fan of their previous work together, you'll be happy to see them back together here.

Though not nearly as wild or raunchy as their previous effort (this film is rated PG-13), this film works because it delivers laughs consistently. There are 2 or 3 big scenes that not only offers an overall humorous presence, but contain several good jokes within the scenes. Without spoiling it, there's a really great scene involving the characters competing in an "athletic competition" that had me rolling with laughter. The film also doesn't rely solely on Vaughn and Wilson to provide all the humor. Supporting actors like Aasif Mandvi (The Daily Show) and Josh Gad (The Book of Mormon) steal their scenes. You also have some cameos appearances from some well known people. They pop-in, generate a few laughs, and quickly leave so as not to bog down the story.

Some will argue that a film like this doesn't need its 2 hour runtime, but in this particular case I think it worked. For one, I never felt like the movie dragged. And perhaps more importantly, with the extra time I felt like director Shawn Levy (Real Steel) was able to let the story breathe a little bit more. The group of younger students that Vaughn and Wilson team up with are each given some character development that enables us to have a rooting interest in their success just as much as we want to see Vaughn and Wilson triumph. With that said, the inclusion of a love story between Wilson and a Google employee played by Rose Byrne probably didn't need to be included, even if there's nothing wrong with their scenes.

Nothing about the story in The Internship is particularly new. It takes elements of the fish-out-of-water story, along with college campus hijinx to give us another tale of the underdog's unlikely ability to win. Any feeling of cynicism toward that lack of originality is eliminated because of the lack of cynicism seen in the film. Despite being beaten down by the world at every turn, these two characters remain enthusiastic about life and infuse that into everyone they meet. And unlike a movie like Larry Crowne where the positivity was seen as naiveté toward current real life economic hardships, the optimism here is infectious and makes you believe that the American Dream is still possible for each and every one of us.

The Internship does not have the same sharpness as some of the best comedies of the past decade, but I would have to call this a pleasant surprise. The film's trailer does not properly convey how much fun this film is. Even if you know where the story is heading, the jokes aren't telegraphed and that is what's most important about a movie like this. If you're looking to laugh, I recommend you use Google to search for when The Internship is showing in your city (oh no, maybe the film got to me after all!!). Grade: B