It’s hard to imagine a more obvious case of product placement than the T.G.I. Fridays sequence from the Kevin James comedy Zookeeper.
Imagine no more.
The Internship, the new comedy reuniting Wedding Crashers cutups Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, pits the actors in a battle to get a non-paying gig with … Google.
The trailer alone feels like it should have cost the Web giant a fortune. Who knows how many Google references will be made during the actual film.
But is it funny?
Vaughn and Wilson flashed serious comedy chemistry in Wedding Crashers, and Identity Thief reminded us how valuable that can be even in mediocre fare. The trailer still feels under-cooked, as if the team behind the film is so confident of its stars they forget to concoct relatable gags or insightful punch lines.
The Flashdance bit is particularly painful, and the other pop culture littering the trailer smack of desperation.
The fact that two grown men are forced to fight over an internship is Hollywood’s unspoken indictment of the Age of Obama, so maybe the film will have something to say on the subject.
Just kidding.
The Internship opens for business June 7.