Entourage Plot Summary:
Adapted from the hit HBO show, movie star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) directs his first feature under former agent turned studio head, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven). When the film closes in on post-production, pressure mounts for Ari, Vince, and the rest of his entourage when the co-financiers try and take control of the project.
Let’s cut to the chase – if you were a huge fan of the show like I was, this will satisfy all your Entourage needs. If you weren’t familiar with the series, you’ll still enjoy it, but the appreciation factor will be significantly lower. I had my doubts, but I have to give creator/writer/director Doug Ellin a lot of credit – he pulled it off. This was pure Entourage bliss, and the proper series finale that the show deserved. Aside from Eric (Kevin Connolly) being on the cusp of fatherhood, and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) making a fortune, they essentially discredit everything that happened in the last season within the first ten minutes. It’s almost like Doug Ellin and producer Mark Wahlberg were told they were getting a movie, but at the last minute it got pushed back and they had to cobble together a lackluster eight episodes to close out the series. Aside from giving us a vintage Entourage storyline we can latch onto, what makes this movie great is that it’s simply all five of these characters in their element, and that’s all I really wanted.
The first scene is Vince on a boat with a bunch of gorgeous women, so there you go. Vince is once again only interesting because of the people around him, and that’s the way it’s always been. If you were expecting big character development with Vince, get over it. The whole premise of Entourage is the affect Vince’s fame has on everyone else.
We got Eric (E) back as the manager of course, and he’s as advisory as ever. Although, Vince and he really don’t get a lot of one-on-one screen time together like they did on the show. With regards to E, it’s all about his personal life and the continuation of his on again/off again fiancé/girlfriend/baby mama, Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Geez, they’ve been dragging that relationship out since season two. For the love of Viking Quest, enough already. E is a perfect example of an Entourage character reverting back to vintage form. His luck and timing with women is jinxed to the point of lunacy, and they offer him a real doozy here that is one of the funniest parts of the whole film. Connolly is his usual likable self. He’s not the funniest, but you just like having him around.
My favorite character in all of Entourage, Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), most certainly gets his due. While he wasn’t prominent in the first half, the last leg of this film becomes the Drama show, and it’s glorious. You get all the Drama moments you want to see. While always hilarious, Drama is also the most relatable character, as you desperately want to see him succeed, but can’t help but laugh when he fails in the most outlandish ways possible. My only complaint with Drama is a shock gag that becomes a big plot point, which I felt was forced.
Then we come to Ari Gold. I honestly don’t have much to say. It’s Jeremy Piven in his element, and he is completely let loose. The anger, the one-liners, the arrogance, the brilliance – it’s all there. You get everything you love about Ari Gold. One of the best parts of the show was his relationship with Lloyd (Rex Lee), his old assistant. You don’t get a ton of moments between them, but they make them count. The only other major character is Turtle, and he was fine. This was the one character who didn’t revert back to vintage form. Turtle isn’t a loser or mooching off Vince. He kind of runs shit. His big storyline is trying to get with Ronda Rousey. I was dreading this in the trailers, but it’s actually tolerable, and Rousey does a good job.
That leads us to all the cameos, and boy are there a lot. While some don’t work (Russell Wilson), they actually do a much better job with the cameos in the movie then they did on the show. There’s a huge party scene where it’s basically the Avengers of Hollywood and beyond mucking it up, and it works really well. The best cameo by far though was none other than New England Patriots Tight End, Rob Gronkowski. Full disclosure: I am a Patriots fan, but when you see the movie, you’ll understand why his cameo is awesome. The other major star is Billy Bob Thornton who plays a rich asshole, and serves as one of the major antagonists in the film. Thornton is great as always, but it’s really Haley Joel Osment who plays his son that serves as the true “villain” of the movie. Osment does a great job as this slimy scum bag, and I hope to see more of him in other projects. Also, Mark Wahlberg is really funny, albeit only a couple scenes.
While I never fell on the floor laughing, there were consistent chuckles throughout, and that’s always what Entourage was anyway. You get a lot of fake behind the scenes movie drama, which also made the show great. While the middle hits a tiny lull, I can’t imagine an Entourage fan being dissatisfied with this movie. It’s exactly what you want, and also delivers what might be the greatest Entourage moment ever in the last scene of the film.
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Great)
===========================================================================================
Daniel Cohen is the Film Editor for Pop-Break. Aside from reviews, Daniel does a weekly box office predictions column, and also contributes monthly Top Tens and Op-Ed’s on all things film. Daniel is a graduate of Bates College with a degree in English, and also studied Screenwriting at UCLA. He can also be read on www.movieshenanigans.com. His movie crush is Jessica Rabbit. Follow him on Twitter @dcohenwriter.
===========================================================================================
