If you've ever thought to yourself, "Yeah, I use Google as a search engine, a map and a verb, but I wish there was a way to get more of it in my life," then you're in luck: Hollywood has fashioned an entire comedy around the ubiquitous Internet company and its so-called lifestyle. The closing credits even demo its product line.
Actually, this peek into Google's California headquarters is a perfectly passable comedy cowritten by Jared Stern and star Vince Vaughn (his first writing credit since 2009's Couples Retreat), and directed by Shawn Levy (the Night at the Museum series). The Internship pairs Vaughn with his Wedding Crashers compadre, Owen Wilson, which results in some familiar chemistry. Both actors play newly unemployed watch salesmen who decide to get cozy with the enemy -- technology -- as over-the-hill interns at Google. They are middle-aged, digital Neanderthals stumbling through a sea of tech-savvy babes in a toyland of self-driving cars, napping pods and Quidditch clubs. But you can bet your pretty bitcoin that the lunkheaded duo, after an initial bout of adversity and age-shaming, will teach these whippersnappers a thing or two about the importance of face-to-face interaction.
Product placement aside, this movie boasts a sweet and admirable message about fellowship and misfit pride. And Vaughn is rather touching as a kind of cuddly uncle figure to his fellow interns. Indeed, if it weren't for a scene set at a high-end strip club -- something to balance out all those brainy girls in glasses, I suppose -- this would be strictly PG material.