Can we talk about the on-the-line thing for a minute?: "The Internship" (2013)

An Ironic post to start blogging again with, I feel, as I have definitely not been on-the-line and posting for quite a while. Update on life, I'm becoming an accountant (fascinating). Update on film life, the last film I saw at the cinema was Bill Condon's "The fifth estate" (2013), which I will talk about at a later date I promise! In any case, I am still a poor blogger, and obviously not another year wiser after my birthday in July. So now that I'm back on-the-line here are a stream of posts of films I've been watching since I last posted. Sitting comfortably?

Director: Shawn Levy
Writer: Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern    Starring: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Josh Brener, Rose Byrne, John Goodman, Will Ferrell.

The story in a nutshell:

Nick:   You got us a job at Google?

Billy:   Well, not a job job.  It’s an interview for an internship that could lead to a job.  Nick, this might be the last chance that we've got.

The use of Alanis Morisettes classic song, 'Ironic' at the beginning of this film is perfect, as there is no better word to describe it other than ironic. The film does wonders to promote Google and all its services without directly promoting Google. The film reiterates the idea that the old style of selling is no longer needed in this 21^st century world but yet in the real world (outside film world), the only jobs that were available to me as a newbie graduate were in direct sales, (aka the old style) of marketing (door to door, cold calling etc). To add irony-to-irony the old fashioned way of selling is what helps the team win their final Internship challenge and gain jobs at Google.

The narrative revolves around two ‘old school’ salesmen, Billy McMahon (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Owen Wilson) who lose their long time sales jobs as the company goes bust due to the fact that, as their boss says, ‘no one wears watches anymore’ (again ironic as Samsung have brought out the Galaxy Smartwatch and there are many designs for Apples Iwatch.)

Billy gets dumped by his long-term girlfriend and decides it’s time to go online to look for jobs. Inspired by the Google homepage, by the next cinematic shot he already has an interview for an internship, but not just for him, he also has an interview for Nick. One would think that getting an interview for an internship these days is tough enough, but Hollywood seems to make allowances, and is heavily implying that getting a summer internship for you and your best mate, at Google nonetheless, just happens by staring at the Google homepage. From now on I will forget about writing cover letters and updating my CV, I’ll just stare at the prospective company’s website.

So, I’ve been a bit cynical about the film so far but there are a couple of good points. It is easily watchable at only 113 minutes, it shows you beautiful parts of San Francisco, it has some great comedy lines, it teaches people the importance of teamwork, the importance of technology in todays society of connecting people with vital information, and most importantly it inspires even the so called ‘dinosaurs’ of society (the older generation) that it is never to late to change your job prospects.

Although lessons are learnt and relationships are well constructed, the narrative, acting and cinematography are average; it was difficult for me to find the mission (or message) of the film. Was it to promote Google? Smash the dreams of any graduate as they realize the prospect of working at Google is not as easy as the film makes it out to be? Was it a major step in Owen Wilsons and Vince Vaughs acting careers? Definitely not to the last question. I liked it, but won’t be buying the DVD and re-watching it any time soon.
Verdict: Meh.