ENTOURAGE – The Review

And now another summertime staple appears at the multiplex: the feature film version of a television series. It’s not a recast movie adaptation of a beloved series from TV’s “golden” or “silver age” like GET SMART or THE FUGITIVE nor one with an intense cult following that like STAR TREK, which has inspired a long-running (over 35 years now) franchise (but who knows?). This series isn’t currently in production as with “The Simpsons” or “The X-Files” (which was still running on Fox TV when the first film premiered). This could be closer to TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME, which hit theatres mere months after ABC TV’s show left the airwaves. But it’s closest, perhaps, to SEX AND THE CITY which made its movie debut just a few years after wrapping a successful run on “premium” cable channel HBO (as in “It’s not TV…it’s HBO). The new film’s not closer because of subject matter (there is a lot of sex involved, though), but because it also comes from HBO and it ended merely four years ago. Bursting out of the small screen and onto the big screen, comes the rowdy gang of ENTOURAGE.

At the end of season eight, movie superstar Vincent “Vinnie” Chase (Adrian Grenier) was about to be married. As the movie begins, Vinnie’s boys (the entourage), “E” AKA Eric (Kevin Connolly), Salvatore “Turtle” (Jerry Ferrara) and brother Johnny “Drama” Chase (Kevin Dillon) are on a speedboat skipping through the waters near Ibiza, Spain to join him in a “divorce party’  aboard a lush yacht (seems he and his bride called it quits just days into the honeymoon). Vinnie wants to get back to work and calls his ex-agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), who’s now a studio exec and is vacationing with his wife and son in Italy. Vinnie will take the lead in a new big blockbuster only if he can direct it. After the title and credits that cleverly recreate the original show’s opening, it’s several months later and Vinnie needs more cash to complete his epic. Ari must travel to Texas and try to coax some more cash from wealthy investor Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thorton). He’ll only cough it up if his dim son Travis (Haley Joel Osment) will go back with Ari to LA and look over the flick so far. We then learn about what Vinnie’s buds have been doing. E, a producer on Vinnie’s “Hyde”, is helping his ex-girlfriend Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) as the birth of their baby nears. Should he try to get back with her? Turtle, now an economic equal to Vinnie thanks to his tequila company, is in pursuit of the gorgeous ultimate fighting champ Ronda Rousey (playing herself). Johnny Drama is pinning his career hopes on a pivotal supporting role in “Hyde”, but still must go to auditions and deal with a tape that leaked to TMZ. Everything soon spins out of control when the obnoxious Travis demands drastic changes in Vinnie’s directing debut. Can Ari get the project back on track without jeopardizing his career along with those of the guys?

Much like the original series, the most entertaining character is not really part of the title group (the mansion’s party boys). I’m speaking of Piven as Ari, the role that deservedly netted him three Emmy awards. Piven’s has remarked in interviews that he plays the role as though he’d just been shot out of a cannon, which holds true this time out. Ari provides a much needed “shot” in the arm, a dose of vitality in the constant orgies and debaucheries. He’s a whirling dervish, the “Tasmanian Devil” in a thousand dollar suit, nipping at any who dare to flick a finger too close. Of the actual quartet, the most compelling may be Dillon as the often tragic Johnny Drama. This was a man who reveled in fame decades ago and now tries desperately to recapture it. But stardom is a flighty, flirty lover and so, he must go out on the cattle calls. Dillon gives what could be a one-note character, a real vulnerability. Unfortunately he’s often the butt of jokes, due to his unchecked libido (and some of the inane gags the script hangs on him). Ferrara mainly mopes about over his MMA dream girl while being teased over his recent weight loss (Turtle was lovably husky in the show’s first few years). Connolly is sometimes the reasonable, restrained, near-adult of the four, other times he’s just the straight man reacting to their outrageous behavior. His romantic subplot never really gels. As for Grenier, after being in the role for eight years, he’s still not really believable as an international screen star. There’s no fire, no charisma (certainly not in the scant scenes we see from “Hyde” a futuristic take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic tale of dual identities in one man). Plus we never really see him work as a film maker, just as a “chick magnet” for the crew. There’s an entertaining subplot featuring the welcome return of Rex Lee as Ari’s beleaguered ex-aide Lloyd. He wants Ari to give him away at his “big fat gay wedding” (as Ari calls it). Beneath the prickly near-homophobic barbs, we sense a real affection between these very different men. Series regular Chriqui has little to do besides being exasperated with E while Debi Mazar flits in and out of scenes as Shauna.

As for the “newbies”, Osment is quite a revelation as the baby-faced, dead-eyed villain. He’s a very funny wide-eyed clod upon his arrival in LA, but soon the other boot drops and the vengeful brat takes over. Thorton, as his daddy, is southern-fried (oops, Texas BBQ) menace as the tight-fisted money man. Rousey is entertaining as the nearly always scowling cartoon of her tough persona, while Emily Ratajkkowski, playing herself as a possible new Vinnie conquest, seems like she was just awakened from a long nap.

Creator of the show Doug Ellin, directing from his screenplay (with Rob Weiss), tries hard to deliver a nice farewell gift to the fans of the show. Unfortunately the finished product doesn’t seem fresh with references that are well past their expiration date (everything still shoots in LA, no “runaway” productions exist here). And really, after eight seasons, who besides the stars and producers were demanding a movie return (as opposed to other HBO shows)? The endless stream of booze, drugs, and  (often topless) starlets no longer feels like exhilerating fun. It’s more desperate. Perhaps that desperation accounts for the unremitting parade of cameos from the worlds of TV, movies, sports, and music. A couple of them are very funny, but most of these star turns fall flat, with most hurling obscene insults at the fictional characters. Much of the time we’re squinting and saying, “Look there’s….and over there is…” while being distracted from some the stale plot elements. Okay ENTOURAGE, you got your flick, now take your booze and bongs and stagger back to rerun heaven.

3 Out of 5