Movie review: The Internship

The wedding crashers have turned system crashers in this fish-out-of-water workplace comedy, proudly brought to you, it would seem, by Google.

Written by Vince Vaughn, The Internship is the story of 40-something salesmen Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) who, after being made redundant, try to find future-proofed jobs at the tech giant.

Managing to wrangle positions in Google's internship programme, the pair must compete against the brightest, most tech-savvy college students for permanent positions. Working in teams to complete challenges, Nick and Billy are grouped with an eclectic bunch of misfits who are far from delighted to have two dinosaurs on their team.

They face fierce competition - it's a classic high school film where the geeks battle the cool kids - but before they can compete, Nick and Billy must bring the team together using old-fashioned people skills.

It's safer comedy than you expect from Wilson and Vaughn; other than the occasional kick in the privates and oral sex gags, they hardly push the boundaries of decency. Instead, there's plenty of cute comedy, with jokes about "Googliness" and the generation gap between those who remember a time before the internet and those who can't live without it.

That said, there are genuinely hilarious moments as Billy inspires his team by using Flashdance as a metaphor, and when the team sends Billy and Nick in search of a certain Professor "Charles Xavier" at Stanford University.

But what really saves The Internship is the easy, relentless banter between Vaughn and Wilson as they happily riff together, offering old-school motivational tips to their young team-mates. It makes for a surprisingly heart-warming underdog story.

Stars: 3/5
Cast: Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne and Vince Vaughn
Director: Shawn Levy
Running time: 119 mins
Rating: M (sexual references)
Verdict: Vaughn and Wilson save the day

- TimeOut