(Next to Durango Mall, 247-9799, www.allentheatresinc.com)

New in theaters

The Internship. There are really three movie stars headlining “The Internship”: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, and Google. Actually, it’s a surprise Google doesn’t get top billing over the humans, so adoringly is the company displayed.

But if you can get past this Mother of All Product Placements, you’ll likely find yourself chuckling a lot during this silly but warm-hearted film, directed by Shawn Levy. Sure, it could be shorter, the script less predictable, the action (much) more believable.

But hey, this is Vaughn and Wilson, and if their onscreen banter doesn’t quite live up to the riotous 2005 “Wedding Crashers,” it’s still pretty darned funny. These two may be woefully inept at technology – or at least, their characters in the film are. But chemistry? That Vaughn and Wilson have down.

The premise, like the whole movie, is far-fetched but enjoyable. Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) are watch salesmen. On a client call, they discover their company has shut down. Their own boss (John Goodman, appearing too briefly) thinks they’re dinosaurs. And so, of course, they apply for an unpaid internship at Google.

Huh?

There was nothing else they could think of? Better to repress such logic-driven questions. Soon, the two are interviewing – via video chat – for the job, and here the actors are at their best, talking over each other as the duo improvises hysterical answers to geeky questions.

They get the job – diversity, wouldn’t ya know. At orientation, a stern taskmaster (a seriously funny Aasif Mandvi), describes the “Hunger Games”-like ordeal ahead: a set of challenges, with only the winning team attaining Google employment.

As corny and obvious as the script, co-written by Vaughn and Jared Stern, can be, there’s a sliver of realism here too – a few serious lines, painfully true, about the state of the job market for young people.

But hey, let’s focus on the positive message: Even old fogeys can reinvent themselves. And perhaps even get a job at Google. Rated PG-13.

JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer

The Purge. Characters are frequently urged to “release the beast” in “The Purge,” a high-concept home-invasion shocker set in a future where one night a year, all crime is legal. But what should be a clammy exercise in claustrophobic, queasy tension becomes, in the hands of writer/director James DeMonaco, an underpowered compendium of over-familiar scare tactics and sledgehammer-subtle social satire. The intriguingly nightmarish premise may well rustle up a decent opening weekend for a picture that comes with the imprimatur of producer Michael Bay before the lukewarm word of mouth hastens its trip to DVD and VOD.

The hostiles-in-the-house sub-genre is, of course, ideal for small-screen viewing, turning the comforting spaces of the domestic environment into shadowy hiding places for miscreants. Five years ago, Bryan Bertino’s “The Strangers” opened one weekend earlier to reap healthy returns, and DeMonaco tips his hat to that predecessor by having his psychopaths also don spooky masks as they come-a-calling on their middle-class suburban prey.

But where Bertino scored by keeping external details to an absolute minimum, DeMonaco overloads “The Purge” with all kinds of cumbersome exposition, mostly delivered via TV-news broadcasts. It’s 2022, and in the United States, crime and poverty have dwindled drastically since the election of the “New Founding Fathers” – presumably in 2014.

This thinly veiled fictional version of the Tea Party (“a nation reborn!”) wasted no time in introducing “The Purge,” a nationwide catharsis, which runs for 12 hours starting at 7 p.m. on March 21, during which time the violent, even homicidal unleashing of rage is positively encouraged as a patriotic duty.

While the plausibility of such an extreme scenario springing up in less than a decade is debatable, more feasible is the accompanying boom in private security spending as citizens who can afford to barricade themselves into their homes do so. Rated R.

NEIL YOUNG – The Hollywood Reporter

Still showing

Becoming Traviata. (Wednesday only.) Natalie Dessay prepares to take on the role of Violetta in this documentary about the staging of Verdi’s masterwork at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France. Not rated.

After Earth. A buddy pic with a twist: after Earth becomes unlivable, Will Smith is a general who crash lands on the ol’ rock with his son (real son Jaden) who must then fend for the both of them when Dad gets injured. Rated PG-13.

Now You See Me. A group of super magicians keep pulling off bank heists while they’re on stage, much to the chagrin of a confused FBI. Rated PG-13.

Epic. (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge.) Apparently in Hollywood, making these animated things is like printing money. In this one, some girl in the woods has to battle evil and save the world. I guess we should thank her. Rated PG.

Fast and Furious 6. More high-adrenaline street racing. One would think audiences should know what to expect by now. Rated PG-13.

The Hangover Part III. With no pretense of wedding fanfare, the Wolfpack is left to roam the streets of Vegas with absolutely no moral compass. Rated R.

Star Trek Into Darkness. (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge.) Another prequel wherein a young Kirk (Chris Pine) goes on an intergalactic manhunt to stop a bad guy. He would go on to do this many times. Rated PG-13.

Iron Man 3. (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge.) Tony Stark puts on his cool suit and keeps fighting the good fight. Rated PG-13.

Back Space Theatre

(1120 Main Ave., 259-7940, www.thebackspacetheatre.org)

The End of Love. Writer/director Michael Webber spends most of this movie in conversation with his real-life toddler son. It’s a documentary style narrative story about a newly single father and what lies ahead.

Gaslight Cinema

(102 Fifth St. Next to the railroad depot, 247-8133, www.allentheatresinc.com)

The Quartet. At a home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva and the former wife of one of the residents. Rated PG-13.

Mud. Two teen boys befriend a fugitive (Matthew McConaughey) and help him evade the law and find his gal (Reese Witherspoon). Rated PG-13.

Ted Holteen and The Associated Press