A friend told me about "The Internship", a 2013 film, which he saw on Cinemax and thought I would like it because it had a lot of stuff I've been saying about Google (or Sillyconned Valley) in it. But looking around I couldn't find it to rent from any of the usual suspects or on Netflix. Places like Amazon and VUDU have it for "buy" not rent. But yesterday while browsing at the nearby Walmart I looked into their Bluray bargain bin. Didn't have to look long as there is was slightly buried. And yes the bargain bin price was better than the online "buy" price but it also has a code included to own the online version too.
Anyway I watched it last night and can say my friend was right. The film stars Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Rose Byrne and it is about a couple of out-of-work salesmen who try out for an internship at Google. It's your usual road buddies comedy and actually some of it was shot on the Google campus with Georgia Tech subbing for some other scenes (Georgia gives a tax break for filming there). At the end Sergey Brin even has a brief cameo. There are also some good shots of San Francisco in it. Having been part of the emergence of tech from 1983 onward and experiencing first hand the boom of the 1990s in the SF Bay Area it was an interesting watch. And actually the film to it's credit makes a good point about experience (which Vaughn and Wilson portray) versus "youthful enthusiasm." What has happened in the last few years is a shift from the South Bay (what is known as Silicon Valley where Google HQ is) to San Francisco which makes no sense because business rents not to mention housing is much more expensive there and the East Bay excluded. But I hear that is about to change as folks are fed up with the commutes. Google is about 45 miles as the crow flies from where I live but a crow is what you would want as the commute otherwise is hellacious. BTW, a successful friend started up a little tech company over in Emeryville and populated it with fresh grads. I couldn't stand those kids at the parties he held there. So pretentious and as others said "a bunch of posers."
