Air New Zealand continued to support their position as The Flying Social Network with a red carpet première of The Internship at Hoyts Sylvia Park. Invited guests, competition winners and social media friends enjoyed the Air New Zealand hospitality of superb food and All Good drinks from the Karma Cola and Gingerella team. The audience entered into the #AirNZGetYourGeekOn atmosphere and you could be forgiven for thinking you were walking through a Dick Smith cloning convention. Many had found a new use for their old 3D glasses collection at home, punching the lenses out to give a look of geek genius in their costume attire. It was an appropriate event after Air New Zealand recently were asked to Google’s I/O event to profile the Air New Zealand Fairy program.
Three ingredients brought together in the new comedy The Internship has created a fun uplifting experience for moviegoers. First up the stage is set when you plant a comedy script in the middle of the world’s best employment location at Google in Mountain View, California. The myth that is a reality comes to life in the movie and starts with free food on campus and doesn’t end with the sleep pods or the bikes in Google colours. The script that was written by Vince Vaughan and sanded into shape by Jared Stern is the right mix of feel-good humour, Owen Wilson philosophy and a story arc that you know will take you higher.
What really rounds out the recipe though, is the Master Chef in Director, Shawn Levy. From Night at the Museum to Real Steel he knows his story craft. Taking an eclectic cast and weaving a few heartstrings through the comedy is something only a few directors can manage. For a comedy movie, I was surprised that the 119min was a smooth evening out with no time to look up the time. The antagonists were likeable rogues and the battlers were believable in both their weakness and their ability to overcome in the fightback. Tie in a simple love story for the backdrop and you know the food is good for the eating.
Our story walks along the slightly unbelievable path of two down-and-out salesmen in Nick (Owen Wilson) and Billy (Vince Vaughan). When their successful sales careers fall flat on their face they have to reinvent themselves in the face of personal failure. John Goodman as their boss tells them they’re only good for one thing and that’s sales. However, when the boys find the possibility of life in Eden at Google via a Summer Internship program they set their sites on lifting their levels of Googliness. Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson are the right pairings of partners in comedy crime. They exude just enough empathy pheromones to reel you in and then slap on some easy humour through their humble failings.
As 100 interns fight in teams to win the holy grail of tech positions as a Google employee, Nick and Billy end up with the mixed bag of genius ‘outliers’ to fight from the bottom up. Socially awkward Stuart (Dylan O’Brien) can’t take his eyes off the 4? screen while Yo-Yo (Tobit Raphael) overcomes an oppressive Mum syndrome to code his way to the top. Neha Patel (Tiya Sircar) is a young lady who has imagined life through cosplay and fanfic so her collision with the RL (real life) helps round out her life experience. You’ll enjoy the cameo of Will Ferrell but some great performances came from Josh Brener as Googler Lile and the terror of the Internship program Mr Chetty played by Aasif Mandvi. For anyone watching a typical Google I/O event, you will be convinced Aasif is actually a member of the Google Exec. His edge of the anger management program delivery keeps the competition tense to the end.
The Internship is that story that teaches us a number of life lessons and I’m not just talking about the rules of Quidditch on a Google sports field. It’s not just a Mary Poppins lesson with a spoonful of comedy sugar to let the medicine go down. Through the romance of Nick and Rose Byrne’s character we remember not to judge a book by its cover. When the maniacal leader ( Max Minghella) of a competitive team puts down his team members all with the appropriate evil English accent we learn how not to lead a team. But the best lesson of all is how a team of connected and intelligent young people learn that by drawing on the life experience of their older team members they can have an edge in the competition.
The Internship was a great movie night out enjoyed by all the Air New Zealand guests streaming out of the theatre. It just goes to show you can laugh your way to your dreams and make a few Exchange-a-gram “on the line” friends along the way.
Rating: M: Sexual references.
