“Well, this ain’t gonna be about getting coffee and running errands for people. No, No, we’re looking at some sort of mental Hunger Games against a bunch of genius kids for just a handful of jobs.”

Billy McMahon (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Owen Wilson) are two exceptional but down-on-their-luck salesmen who find that technology has pretty much rendered them obsolete. With their relationships either non-existent or a mess, and their homes in foreclosure, they need a change. So when the watch company they work for suddenly closes its doors, they are forced to make a change. Billy is sick of playing it safe, so—despite their complete lack of technical knowledge—he convinces Nick to join him in applying for the Google internship program, and they somehow mange to get accepted.

At Google headquarters, the 100 interns are split into teams of 5 that will compete in a series of mental and physical challenges. At the end of the summer, the winning team will be given full-time jobs at Google. As all of the interns rush to form their teams, Billy and Nick find themselves part of the leftovers that no one wanted. Their teammates consist of the crazy home-schooled Yo-Yo (Tobit Raphael), the brooding Stuart (Dylan O’Brien) who’s always glued to his smartphone, and the horny cosplayer Neha (Tiya Sircar). Their team mentor is also a leftover—the young first-time manager Lyle (Josh Brener) who lacks confidence.

The Internship is a new take on the collegiate comedy, and setting the film on the university-like Google campus is a clever twist. The story itself borrows elements from classic comedies like Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, and Back To School (and even Monsters University to a degree). Our heroes are in this “loser” group and must compete in a series of contests against the “cool kids”, who are led by pompous Brit Graham (Max Minghella). Graham is a jerk, always taunting our team and finding ways to cheat at the competitions. Meanwhile, the head of the intern program, Mr. Chetty (Aasif Mandvi), has his doubts about Billy and Nick, and is constantly judging them harshly and seemingly unfairly. At the same time, Nick pursues teacher Dana (Rose Byrne), who seems to have no interest in him. While this may all see very familiar, The Internship does a good job of making these elements still feel fresh and funny.

The Internship is most definitely a comedy, and has some really fun moments. One of the intern challenges takes the form of a Quidditch match, and this is one of the funnest moments of the film. There is also a lot of improv and interplay between Vaughn and Wilson. There is also a lot of fun, often-improv’d banter between the characters—something you’d expect from Wilson and Vaughn. The supporting actors also hold their own, giving some great comedic performances.

In addition to the humor, the film also has a lot of character development and growth. What Billy and Nick lack in technical skills, they make up in life skills and street smarts. So while people initially write them off, they find ways to contribute to their team. It’s great to see how they both learn from their teammates, and help their teammates overcome their own limitations and let loose. Throughout the film, you find yourself really caring about these characters and rooting for them.

The picture and sound quality on this Blu-ray are great—from its crisp clear picture to the nice use of the stereo and surround channels. The disc contains both an unrated and a theatrical cut. The film was originally tested with both PG-13 and R-rated cuts, but was ultimately released as a PG-13 movie. I only watched the Unrated Cut so I can’t really speak to specific differences, but in the audio commentary director Shawn Levy describes the unrated version as “dirtier” with “at least 10 raunchy irreverent laughs”.

The extras included on the disc are pretty minimal. There’s an interesting director commentary on the theatrical cut of the film, 8 minutes of deleted scenes, and a fun and interesting behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film’s Quidditch match. There are also iTunes, Ultraviolet DigitalHD and DVD copies of the theatrical cut of the film included in the combo pack.

The Internship is a fun, entertaining film with lots of laughs, but also a lot of heart. While the outcome may be a bit predictable if you’ve seen any collegiate comedy, the ride is still a fresh, fun new take. This film is definitely worth checking out.

What’s Included on the Blu-ray:

Film (1:59:25 min Theatrical Cut, 2:05:01 Unrated Cut):

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English Descriptive Audio DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1, French DD 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1, Russian DTS 5.1, Ukranian DTS 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Estonian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukranian,

DVD (Theatrical Only):

• 480p / Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English DD 5.1, English Descriptive Audio DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Digital Copy (Theatrical Only): (Redemption Deadline 10/22/2015)

• iTunes Digital Copy (requires disc)
• UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Vudu or Flixster

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (8:26)
  Play All or select from “Foreclosure”, “A Bad Day Gets Worse”, “Talk Show Walk and Talk”, “Tech Stop”, “Missy Franklin”, “Billy and Nick on Catwalk”, “Nick Calls Stuart”, and “Cosplay”
• Any Given Monday (17:52)
  Filmed on July 30, 2012 in Atlanta, this documentary gives a behind-the-scenes look at the planning, filming and editing of the film’s Quidditch match. Includes interviews with director Shawn Levy, stunt coordinator Garrett Warren, production designer Tom Meyer director of photography Jonathan Brown, editor Dean Zimmerman and members of the cast.
• Audio Commentary with Director Shawn Levy (Theatrical Only) (1:59:25)
  Director Shawn Levy talks about re-pairing Owen and Vince and working with the comedic duo. He also discusses some of the joys and challenges of setting the film at a real company. Sometimes Levy gets a bit distracted trying to respond to live questions submitted by Twitter users.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:26)
• Sneak Peek (7:34)
  Play All or select from trailers for “The Wolverine”, “The Heat”, “The Way, Way Back”, “The League Season 4″, “Modern Family Season 4″, “New Girl Season 2″

Final Thoughts:

The Internship is a fun, entertaining film that provides a lot of laughs but also an interesting character-driven story. The blu-ray looks and sounds great and contains some interesting bonus features including both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film, a director commentary, some deleted scenes and an interesting behind-the-scenes featurette. Even though the story is pretty familiar and the ending predictable, it’s still a fun ride that’s worth checking out.