Viral Buddy Comedy On Hulu Perfectly Blends Generational Humor
Social media platforms such as TikTok have been responsible for breathing new life into many works of art which went unappreciated in their time. One example of this trend is the recent viral success of the 2013 film The Internship, which has been popping up in small clips all over TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook Reels. The Internship is a buddy comedy which perfectly utilizes jokes and humorous situations regarding generational differences, without pandering to one generation or attacking young people.
The Concept
The Internship was written by Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern, and directed by Deadpool & Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy. Vaughn first had the idea to craft the film after watching a segment on 60 minutes regarding the work culture at Google, which offers employees a wide range of interesting activities and perks. Google reps also assisted in crafting the film, lending technical support to the production and offering insider info to the scriptwriting duo for additional accuracy.
The Cast
The film stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in the leading roles, building off the chemistry the comedic duo established in 2005’s Wedding Crashers. The Internship also stars Rose Byrne, Josh Brener, Dylan O’Brien, Josh Gad, Eric André, and The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi.
While the film went under-appreciated upon release, young people across the world have been flocking to it recently after seeing some of the film’s funniest moments condensed into bite-sized clips online.
Starting At Google
The Internship centers on a pair of fast-talking middle-aged salesmen named Billy McMahon and Nick Campbell, who lose their jobs after the market becomes antiquated by big business entities. On a lark, Billy applies for himself and Nick to get internships at Google, noting that the company is a fast-growing market that is unlikely to ever fail. While the pair are unorthodox picks for a Google internship, which is normally reserved for college-aged students, they manage to land an interview, where they win over the hiring team with unique perspectives on the standard interview questions.
Once the pair arrive on the Google campus, they are sorted into teams with other prospective interns, and tasked with competing in a series of team-building challenges to harness their skills over the course of the internship. By the end of the Summer, one team will be guaranteed employment with the tech giant, while the other will be let go. Billy and Nick are seen, at first, as a massive liability to their team, as they have no relevant tech experience, and are completely out of place within the company.
Old And Young Teaming Up
Before long, Billy and Nick establish their value, by bringing old-school sales techniques to the table that can only be learned through real life job experience. Many films in this vein take cheap shots at the young generation, deriding them for their sensitivity, lack of worldly experience, or failure to interface with ancient technology. The Internship takes a vastly different approach, by showcasing the ways in which members of different generations can assist each other, by utilizing out-of-the-box thinking that can only be gained from real life experience.
Stream It Now
GFR SCORE
The film may not have the greatest reviews, holding only a 35 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it is proving to have a better shelf life than critics may have initially anticipated. For those interested in catching The Internship today, the film can be streamed on Hulu today. All things considered, The Internship is worth a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.
