Before Game of Thrones and Orange Is Thé New Black, Sunday night was ruled by The Sopranos, Sex and the City and Entourage. All part of HBO's new golden age of television, the latter two were essentially the same show set in different locations; that is, they were shows whose fundamental cores were about the vital importance of the bonds of friendship and how they insulate us with dealing with situations in our lives that can become pretty surreal. Based loosely on show producer Mark Wahlberg's life, Entourage was the story of four friends who came from poverty in Queens, New York to make their mark in Hollywood. It has Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) the young, hot new star, Eric "E" Murphy (Kevin Connolly), his best friend cum manager, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) a fast-talking, pot-smoking semi-con artist, and Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon), Vince's brother, who had a minorly successful TV show and is now a struggling actor. Together with Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), Vince's superstar, foul-mouthed agent, we follow Vince's career throughout the show from hot new actor off a successful action film, to worldwide superstar after a huge comic book film, then getting Indie cred after a great small picture, to disastrous vanity picture and actor jail where he is virtually unemployable. Then he falls into descent into drug-fueled, out of control behavior until redemption with another great film
Now, I told you all that to tell you this, the movie is simply a continuation of the story. It is bigger, more stars, but basically picks up where the show left off. Pretty much everybody is back, and for fans of the show, there is a lot to like, particularly Jeremy Piven's antics as Ari Gold. The show was one of the biggest shows on TV at the time, but the movie seems oddly detached, probably to facilitate newcomers to the story by starting fresh. But there is a lot it gets right. The movie is pretty funny, spectacularly so with Drama's ever-increasing desperation to be a star in his own right. Drama, in particular, is a very brave role as he provides some of the most cuttingly honest humor (and commentary) about what a meat grinder and soul-crushing place Hollywood can be for an actor. The indignities heaped upon Drama, partially by his own crazy actions, to situations that are totally out of his control, are legion. Many of them are hilarious, most packed with the blackest and iciest satire of Hollywood celebrity culture. While his younger, more successful brother is having sex with every beautiful woman and roles just fall into his lap, Johnny continues to lose out every time, to the point where he has to beg his brother for parts in every movie he's in, even a commercial. In the hands of a lesser comedic actor, this would come off as sad, even pathetic. But Keven Dillon plunges into the role with such aplomb, you can't help but love the guy. So it's satisfying that in the film, he actually gets a happy ending of sorts.
As for the rest of the film, it glosses over significant events that the show finished on. The show left on a very happy ending, and almost all of it has been wiped away to start the film. It is very abrupt, and I think newcomers will wonder what E and Turtle really have to do in the cast, because they don't really do anything. And while that is almost forgivable to start the film, in some cases, huge plot lines introduced within the film just end or cut off abruptly. The selfish person in me hopes this is because another sequel will follow, but I'm not so sure. As far as Vince goes, he's just there to move the plot along. The movie is interesting, dealing with a jumpy financier who hijacks their $100+ movie with unreasonable demands, with Haley Joel Osmet coming back in spectacular fashion now that he is no longer a child star. I hope to see more of him because he was great in the film, showing the same actorly prowess and chops he demonstrated in The Sixth Sense and A.I. His instincts are dead on and I think he could have a great career with some careful planning. So, all in all, Entourage has some very funny moments, but is best left for fans of the show. While it is nowhere near as disappointing as the two Sex and the City movies were, it was a tad disappointing in the end.
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