The Internship Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
October 26th, 2013
After first cracking up audiences in 2005’s WEDDING CRASHERS, it took eight years for Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson to team up again for THE INTERNSHIP. Unfortunately, their follow-up effort pales in comparison and feels like a prize fighter that’s pulling his punches because each joke seems to take a swing and then pull back just before it goes far enough to make you laugh. Most of that is due to the PG-13 rating, making for a watered down comedy that doesn’t break any new ground or generate any belly laughs. So thank goodness for this unrated cut, which adds some edginess to the film, but still doesn’t take it to where it needs to be.
Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) are two salesmen out of work after their watch company goes under. That forces them to apply for an internship at Google, in hopes of jumpstarting their careers. Google gives them a chance and soon, Billy and Nick find themselves in the internship, competing with kids much smarter and younger than them for a full time job. The idea is that the large group of interns is split up into teams to compete in a series of challenges. The team that wins gets full time jobs at Google. The basic premise is actually pretty great; by putting two adults in an internship with a bunch of college kids, we have the perfect setting for great gags and inappropriate jokes.
Unfortunately, for the most part, the comedy is pretty bland, especially when we’re at the Google campus. But the banter and chemistry between Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson keeps the movie going. The jokes needed more “umph” to them and I found myself constantly wishing that scenes would take it a little further. For example, when the team tackles their first challenge, the kids start working on the technical aspects of “fixing a bug” in a program while Billy and Nick start talking back and forth about actual bugs. The joke is that Billy and Nick are dumb, but if a little more effort had been spent on what they were actually saying, the scene could have been hilarious. That scene is a good example of how each joke or dialogue exchange felt watered down and almost unnatural given the back-story of these two characters.
The unrated version features more F-bombs, nudity and an extended strip club scene that spiced things up in an overall vanilla film. The trouble with the unrated version is that some of the “unrated” parts don’t really fit into the rest of the film. They made it better, but still felt out of place. I’d be remiss if I didn’t criticize the filmmakers for not releasing this version in theaters, although we have to assume that Google had something to say about that as the movie paints the search engine giant in a very positive light. And since their name is spoken every five minutes and their logo even appears on the cover, we can also assume Google had some level of approval in the final cut. That said, there is a considerable difference between the two versions of the film and I recommend skipping the theatrical version all together. You don’t need foul language and nudity to make a funny movie, but if used properly, they can make a comedy funnier. Such is the case with THE INTERNSHIP. But even with the theatrical version, we’re presented with an efficient comedy that provides just enough humor to keep the audience interested.
THE INTERNSHIP BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: THE INTERNSHIP looks beautiful on Blu-ray. I’ve never been to the Google campus, but the colorfulness of the facility makes me want to visit some day.
Audio: The audio is efficient.
Commentary with Shawn Levy: Levy halfway addresses the issue with using Google as a location and maybe I’m reading into his tone too much, but I almost felt like he regretted the decision. He talks a lot about some of the challenges he faced and how the film came to be, but I really wanted more insight into the Google decision.
Deleted scenes (8:27): The highlight here features Will Ferrell dressed as Boba Fett, which also made its way into the unrated version. The rest of the scenes are pretty bland.
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