Warner Bros. Pictures
I’m not sure how much can really be said for this sort of movie, but here goes nothing: This is a better transition to the big screen from the small than Sex and the City but not as good as say, Borat. But it’s exactly what you’d expect from a movie based on the popular show Entourage. The show was bro wish fulfillment as its finest, with the titular group of hangers on coming to Hollywood from Queens with Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) to seek fame and fortune. At first the show was just simple Hollywood satire, taking the air out of the pomposity of show business.
But the more successful the dudes got, the stupider the dramatic hurdles were that were shoved into their paths before they all super duper succeeded at the end of the series. Vinnie was married to a new girl, his manager/best bud Eric (Kevin Connolly) got his girl Sloane (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and even overweight wannabe Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and older washout actor Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) were doing well. Those last few seasons of Entourage were not good, but they were fine as background entertainment.
The truth is that the show pandered from the start, piling on the bikini babes and celebrity cameos en masse, with all serious problems solved by the end of the season (or so). No longer was the show about small guys making it big, instead it was pure nonsense. But fun nonsense, if you like that sort of thing. And now we have the movie.
In Entourage the movie, we pick up literally a few weeks after the series ended, and Vince has already divorced his wife and is partying like mad on a yacht near Ibiza. It’s extravagance, which is the show as it became. Soon the “story” of sorts begins, with studio head and former agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven, the best actor here) making a new movie for Vince called “Hyde,” a weird futuristic dystopian take on the Jekyll and Hyde story. But, uh oh, Vince wants to direct? Drama? Maybe.
Cut to a few months later and they’re out of money, so Ari must try to convince the Texas oil caricatures, the McCredle father (Billy Bob Thornton) and son Travis (Haley Joel Osment), to shell over more dough. A few ridiculous scenes of Travis hitting on Emily Ratajkowski playing herself later, and he hates the movie! That’s one hurdle to overcome. Then there’s the artificial hurdle inserted before the movie started with Eric — Sloane is pregnant, but they broke up for some reason. It doesn’t matter, but it gives Eric a chance to fool around with more women, naturally.
Turtle has his own problems, trying to court MMA fighter Ronda Rousey (also playing herself), but screwing it up along the way. Another hurdle. Ari has anger problems. The same hurdle. Finally Johnny Drama just wants recognition in the industry, but the sad sack keeps getting crapped on. More hurdles. Will they make the movie? Will it be a huge hit? Will everyone (that we care about) get what they want?
For Entourage, it’s about the journey to the ending. tweet
Well, that’s not the point. For Entourage, it’s about the journey to the ending, which means shoving in as much nonsense, profane jokes, and overwhelmingly attractive women as possible. Sure, we see a few “sort of” fleshed out characters, like the return of Ari’s wife, or Constance Zimmer, or even their therapist, but that’s set dressing in a lot of ways. It’s a heavily “bro” movie, but that doesn’t mean it won’t entertain you.
The movie was enjoyable for what it was. tweet
Essentially if you liked the show, you will like this movie. If you hated the show, or this summary of events, you’ll hate it. I could nitpick things, but what’s the point? I could sigh at the return of racist and homophobic jokes but who really doesn’t know about them already? The movie was enjoyable for what it was, but that means some people will have a fun time, some will have a fun time ironically, and the rest will hate it. You probably already know which of those you are.
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