The film stars Vaughn and Owen Wilson as recently laid-off salesmen who attempt to compete with much younger and more technically skilled applicants for a job at Google.

They are accepted due to their unorthodox interview answers, despite a lack of relevant experience and not being of traditional collegiate age.

Billy and Nick's team is led by Lyle, who constantly tries to act hip to hide his insecurities, and its other members are seen as rejects: the smartphone-addicted Stuart, the tiger-parented Filipino Yo-Yo, and Indian American nerd-related kink enthusiast Neha.

When teams are tasked with developing an app, Billy and Nick convince their teammates to indulge in a wild night out, which includes going to a strip club.

Lyle's drunken antics inspire them to create an app that guards against reckless phone usage while drunk, and win the task by earning the most downloads.

Reinvigorated, Billy leads them to convince a local pizzeria owner how Google can help him interact with potential customers and thereby expand his business, while remaining true to his professional values.

[6] Google agreed to work with the film producers, with founder Larry Page noting that "computer science has a marketing problem.

The site's critical consensus reads, "The Internship weighs down Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's comic charisma with a formulaic script and padded running time that leans far too heavily on its stars' easygoing interplay.

[12] Stephen Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote on his review, "The Internship itself would be kind of charming, too, if this Google-recruitment film, this 119-minute commercial for Googliness, weren't so downright creepy".