The Internship (2013) or, Two Dopes at Google

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Two familiar comedy stars in jeans look lost in a Google-inspired blank page on this neat poster for Shawn Levy's The Internship

Two grown men, who work together for a company which now goes bankrupt, go searching for a new future for themselves through an internship at the search engine giant Google in Silicon Valley.

 

The Internship is written by co-writer/co-producer/co-star Vince Vaughn (The Break-Up (2006)) and Jared Stern (Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)) and directed by co-producer/director Shawn Levy (Address Unknown (1997)).

Nothing much happen to the two men in their new situation, and none of them have anything in their lives of weight, interest or meaning to really pitch in with. This leaves the affair an empty experience, and as an attempt at office situation comedy, The Internship feels like the beginning of a very long TV-series, you absolutely would want to miss, more so than an actual movie. 

Vaughn and Owen Wilson (Marmaduke (2010)) play immature, mind-zapped, endlessly yapping idiots, and they are surrounded by caricature figures in Google land. You will be minimally amused by this stinker, which is also likely to make you tired of the likes of Rose Byrne (Annie (2014)), Max Minghella (Babylon (2022)) and Silicon Valley.

 

Related posts:

 

Shawn Levy: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns 

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) or, Museum Night: Sequel Time 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

The Pink Panther (2006) - Martin's Sellers imitation is a trial to sit through

Night at the Museum (2006) - Levy and Stiller bring the family fun 

 

  

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 58 mil. $

Box office: 93.4 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.61 times its cost)

[The Internship premiered 29 May (California) and runs 119 minutes. Vaughn got the idea for the film after seeing a 60 Minutes segment on working at Google. Shooting took place from July - September 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia and in California, including in San Francisco. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release The Purge and holdover hits Fast & Furious 6 and Now You See Me, to a 17.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 44.6 mil. $ (47.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 7.1 mil. $ (7.6 %) and the UK with 5.3 mil. $ (5.7 %). The film also made more than 13.3 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Levy returned with This Is Where I Leave You (2014). Vaughn returned in Delivery Man (2013); Wilson in Drunk History (2013, TV-series) and theatrically in Are You Here (2013). The Internship is rotten at 25 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Internship?

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) or, Museum Night: Sequel Time

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Lots of colorful characters and adventure elements are promised on this stuffed poster for Shawn Levy's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Daley the night guard from the first film now has a successful but unsatisfying company, but when an old Egyptian tablet threatens to awaken all of the Smithsonian in Washington, so Daley heads out - with help from sonny!

 

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Night at the Museum (2006), both) and directed by Shawn Levy (Address Unknown (1997)), who also directed the preceding, first film.

The followup to the lively family adventure is an uneven affair, which doesn't have much luck trying to occupy an abundance of positions: Giddy children's humor, adult comedy, and stabs at Indiana Jones-like excitement and action - which is never delivered.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is handsome, with an impressive cast, but deeply forgettable, poorly written, a scrap product.

 

Related posts:

Shawn Levy: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns 

Night at the Museum (2006) - Levy and Stiller bring the family fun 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 150 mil. $

Box office: 413.1 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.75 times its cost)

[Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian premiered 14 May (Washington, DC) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from April 2008 - ? in Washington, DC, New York, Montreal, Quebec and in British Columbia, including in Vancouver. The film opened #1 to a 54.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4-#4), grossing 177.2 mil. $ (42.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 32.8 mil. $ (7.9 %) and Japan with 21.4 mil. $ (5.2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. The film also made in excess of 63.1 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Levy and stars returned for the third Night at the Museum; Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). Levy first returned with Date Night (2010). Ben Stiller (The Suburbans (1999)) returned first in The Marc Pease Experience (2009). Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is rotten at 44 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian?

Meet the Parents (2000) - Roach, Stiller, De Niro and Co. make comedy gold

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The hilarious polygraph test scenario from the film makes up this great poster for Jay Roach's Meet the Parents

Greg is a male nurse who is about to propose to his girlfriend. But before that he'll have to go through her parents, which is easier said than done.

Meet the Parents is written by Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Deedles (1998)) and John Hamburg (Safe Men (1998)) and directed by great New-Mexican filmmaker Jay Roach (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)). It is a remake of the same-titled 1992 independent comedy by Greg Glienna (Desperation Boulevard (1998)), co-written with May Ruth Clarke.
Meet the Parents is a classical broad family comedy that works, creating mirth and eventual successful feel-good affect from feel-bad, anxiety-driven situations, as Ben Stiller's (School for Scoundrels (2006)) sympathetic Gaylord 'Greg' Focker has to pass through terrible ordeals to get his bride. Stiller and Robert De Niro (Everybody's Fine (2009)) as the intimidating ex-CIA operative father-in-law both give very accurate and highly amusing performances in many scenes in the film, where they successfully play against each other.
Meet the Parents is a rare treat of a comedy full of bizarre scenes and major laughs.

Related posts:

Jay Roach: Bombshell (2019) - Toxic US culture laid bare in Roach's great drama 
Trumbo (2015) - Good actors and a thrilling true story make this biopic work 
Dinner for Schmucks/Dinner with Schmucks (2010) - Carell carries Roach's flawed but utterly hilarious comedy  

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 330.4 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned its cost 6 times)
[Meet the Parents was released 6 October (USA) and runs 108 minutes. Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg and Jim Carrey were in talks to head a new big-studio version of the 1992 film, before Roach and Co. got the gig. De Niro got 13.5 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from November 1999 - February 2000 in New York, including New York City, and in Illinois, including Chicago. The film reportedly had a 33.9 mil. $ marketing budget. It opened #1 to a 28. 6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, a new October opening record and De Niro's career's biggest opening up to that point. The film remained #1 in the following 4 weekend and then spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 166.2 mil. $ (50.3 % of the total gross). The film's international earnings sheet is regrettably not complete at Box Office Mojo, but its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets appear to have been the UK with 21.5 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Germany with 17.5 mil. $ (5.3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Song Oscar for A Fool in Love by Randy Newman, lost to Things Have Changed by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. The film enjoyed tremendous video sales, generating reportedly 200 mil. $ in North America. It inspired reality show Meet My Folks (2001) and sit-com The In-Laws (2001), and 2 sequels were made; Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010). Roach returned with Austin Powers in Goldmember (2004). De Niro returned in 15 Minutes (2001); Stiller in Mission: Improbable (2000, TV short), P. Diddy feat. Black Rob & Mark Curry: Bad Boys for Life (2001, music video) and theatrically in Zoolander (2001). Meet the Parents is certified fresh at 84 % with a 6.93/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Meet the Parents?

Wonder (2017) - Remember napkins for Chbosky's heart-warming family drama

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Tearjerker of the Year

A family of four is at the heart of Stephen Chbosky's Wonder as well as this turquoise poster

Auggie Pullman is a boy living with a rare facial deformity, whose parents are supporting him to start in middle school after years of home school. But finding his place in an often less than kind world is a challenge for Auggie.

Wonder is the third feature from Pennsylvanian master co-writer-director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), written by Chbosky, Steve Conrad (Lawrence Malm (2004)) and Jack Thorne (War Book (2014)), based on the same-titled children's novel by R.J. Palacio.
Chbosky returns with another moving adaptation of the pains of growing up, again rooted in school life and its tensions, and once again with a plot that uses music well and applies theater positively to its story, in this case by Auggie's big sister's performing in Our Town.
Owen Wilson (Zoolander 2 (2016)) and Julia Roberts (Grand Champion (2002)) are probably cinema's nicest parent couple here since Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock played Thomas Horn's parents in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Both are just great, and they share fun parental interplay here. But the story is really about kids, - not just Auggie, but is structured in chapters around four kids, which is a neat device that broadens the film's scope to insightful effect.
Jacob Tremblay (Room (2015)) is really the film's star, and despite the heavy prosthetics he has to wear here, his instinctual talent gets across freely. The fine cast also includes Sonia Braga (An Invisible Sign (2010)) in a fine scene as a grandmother and Mandy Patinkin (Lulu on the Bridge (1998)) who is well cast and fatherly as the good principal.
The tone is brimming with sentiment from the get-go, and the production is bright and family-friendly, - which also means that the other kids are almost overly photogenic and have issues that are not exactly gritty, - but the film's big and thoroughly sympathetic heart makes these notes redundant.
Wonder sports a message; 'Choose kind', which is as relevant today as it ever was, and which it drives home with touching skill. The lengthier version of it that is promoted in the film is this; when you have the opportunity to choose between doing what's right and doing what's kind, - choose kind. That wisdom also becomes a practical part of the story, which is great. The film should also be commended for also creating sympathy for its mean kid, SPOILER whose internal makeup is shown to have come from somewhere, (flawed parents.)
Wonder is the come-together cinema event for the whole family this season, a noble and great film that speaks equally to kids and adults and which you shouldn't miss.

Related posts:

Stephen Chbosky: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 
Top 10: Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - An instant classic     

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 220.6 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say - but already a mega-hit
[Wonder premiered 14 November (Los Angeles) and runs 113 minutes. The novel was inspired by Palacio's daughter crying at the sight of a child with a facial deformity. The film was announced in 2012. Tremblay was cast in 2016. His prosthetics took 1.5-2 hours to apply daily and half an hour to get off. Shooting took place in British Columbia, Canada and in New York from July - September 2016. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Justice League, to an overwhelming 27.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 5 impressive weeks (#2-#3-#3-#3-#4). The film has upcoming releases in China, Poland, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, winning hearts and minds where-ever it lands. It has been nominated for a BAFTA. Chbosky is set to return with a romance entitled Prince Charming, and Tremblay returns in Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Wonder is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Wonder?

She's Funny That Way (2014) - Bogdanovich's probably last film isn't that funny

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This poster for Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way appears promising enough, if maybe a bit bland

 

A New York escort confesses to her psychologist how she over a brief period of time has made the acquaintances of a group of internally tangled persons...

 

She’s Funny That Way, written by Louise Stratten (City Island (2009, actress)) and great New-Yorker co-writer-director Peter Bogdanovich (What's Up, Doc? (1972)), is an attempt at an [Woody] Allenesque comedy. Regrettably, it doesn't work, mainly because it isn't funny enough, and also because it is hard to get sufficiently interested in the story's affluent characters and their problems.

Imogen Poots (Green Room (2015)), - who is British, - is charming as the escort and utilizes a heavy New-York accent that matches Mercedes Ruhl's in The Fisher King (1991). Jennifer Aniston (Along Came Polly (2004)) as the shrink has funny-bones and the kind of energy that is lacking from the performances of Owen Wilson (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) and Rhys Ifans (Mr. Nice (2010)), who play a couple of fools. Kathryn Hahn (Bad Moms (2016)) tries but also isn't particularly funny here. Keep your eyes peeled for several star cameos.

The style of She's Funny That Way is a peculiar blend of intellectual, verbally oriented comedy and the screwball kind that Bogdanovich famously and hilariously reanimated with What's Up, Doc?. The blend doesn't gel. But She’s Funny That Way is a Movie, and especially a Bogdanovich fan will still find it feasibly entertaining.

 

Related posts:

 

Peter Bogdanovich: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)

What's Up, Doc? (1972) - Screwball comedy revived for a wonderful show

The Wild Angels (1966) - Young biker rebels deliver a counter-culture punch in Corman's hands (co-writer) 

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 6 mil. $

= Unknown (but likely a big flop)

[She's Funny That Way premiered August 29 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. The script was written in 1999-2000 by Bogdanovich and ex-wife Stratten as a comedy collaboration to keep their spirits up during financial troubles, originally intended to be starring John Ritter (who died before production) and Cybill Shepherd, (who still plays a small role.) It was shot in New York in 29 days, starting July 11 2013, with some of the roles only getting cast during shooting. The North American distribution rights were acquired by Clarius Entertainment, who then dropped the film for unknown reasons, at which time Lionsgate Premiere picked it up for a small theatrical release and as VoD, (which is not accounted for in the box office figure above.) The film ran for 3 weeks, topping in 26 theaters in North America, were it grossed just 111k $ (1.9 % of the total gross). The biggest 3 markets were Russia with 822k $ (13.7 %), Italy with 597k $ (10 %) and Poland with 585k $ (9.8 %). Without a cost figure (and the VoD performance unknown), it isn't possible to make out the film's theatrical performance for sure, but if it was made cheap, on for instance a 5 mil. $ budget, the film would likely still rate as a big flop. She's Funny That Way is rotten at 39 % with a 5.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of She’s Funny That Way?

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - Anderson beautifies but still wins with India-journey favorite

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+ Best Dramedy of the Year

Three Westerners explore colorful India in Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited

QUICK REVIEW:

Three American brothers, who have recently lost their father, gang up as older brother Francis (Owen Wilson (She's Funny That Way (2014))) wants them to go on a spiritual bonding journey through India to their mother, a nun in the Himalayas, who doesn't want to see them.

It is too easy to do as some and write Darjeeling off as just a piece of quirky indie-fashionable exotic-East-hipster-pornography, and the film is admittedly also that. The three brothers are excessively eccentric, rich and cool, - but also entertaining and well-played by Wilson, Adrian Brody (Midnight in Paris (2011)) and Jason Schwartzman (The Overnight (2015)). Anjelica Huston (Addams Family Values (1993)) has a good time and a good part as their mother, while Bill Murray (Groundhog Day (1993)) has a teeny, tiny part. And Natalie Portman (Léon (1994)) and Schwartzman in Darjeeling have to be the movie couple of the year!
The story, by master co-writer-director Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)), Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom (2012)) and Schwartzman, is rich, very unpredictable and ripe with beautiful moments, wherein the film's superior visuals really get to work their magic. Once again excellent work by cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman (The Squid and the Whale (2005)).
Darjeeling Limited is a film to treasure! Long live post-modernism!

Related posts:
 
Wes Anderson:  2014 in films - according to Film Excess
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - A very very good dream 
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - A 1960s island youth romance present 
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch the inspiring, resplendent trailer for the film here

Cost: 17.5 mil. $
Box office: 35 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Much of the film was shot on location in Rajasthan, India and in New York. The film is dedicated to great Indian director Satyajit Ray. It won the Little Gold Lion in Venice, garnered good reviews and made 11.9 mil. $ (34 % of its total gross) in North America.]

What do you think of The Darjeeling Limited?

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowdpleaser

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+ Best Paris Movie of the Year

Owen Wilson walks around in Vincent Van Gogh's classic Paris painting Starry Night on the poster for Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris

An American couple are in Paris, where the woman's father is finishing a business deal. Her husband is working on his first novel, although she wants him back at Hollywood screenwriting. But every night by midnight, he gets transported back to the bohemian Paris of the 1920s!

Owen Wilson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)) is surprisingly reliable and efficient here, leading a strong ensemble cast with Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose (2007)) and Adrian Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) as Salvador Dalí as other luminous stars here in master writer-director Woody Allen's (Anything Else (2003)) beloved fantasy romcom.
The philosophical point of the film; that life is fundamentally unsatisfying, and that other places in time and other physical locations than the ones that we inhabit are always idealized,-  is classic Allen.
Midnight in Paris is an enthusiastic and beautiful Paris-set movie, (cinematography by Darius Khondji (Irrational Man (2015)).) It's a sweet, charming story, reminiscent of Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), although that's less sweet, and I prefer that film slightly.
One reservation: Why does the present have to be so intensely awful and depressing?

Related posts:

Woody Allen: 2014 in films - according to Film Excess 

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance
Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 
Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy    
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York 
Celebrity (1998) or, Beautiful Celebrities Talk About Sex (guest review) 
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor) 

Woody Allen with Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson during shooting of Midnight in Paris

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box office: 151.1
= Huge hit
[Allen scored one of his career's biggest commercial hits with Midnight in Paris, which critics and audiences alike welcomed eagerly: Allen won his 4th Oscar yet for his original screenplay, and the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Director and Art Direction. It made 56.8 mil. $ (38 % of the total gross) in the US, and was a particularly huge hit abroad in Italy (8.9 mil. €) and France (8.4 mil. €).]

What do you think of Midnight in Paris?