Entourage (2015)

Dir: Doug Ellin

Written by: Doug Ellin, Rob Weiss

Produced by: Wayne Carmona, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Rob Weiss.

Currently Playing At: Aksarben Cinema, AMC Star Council Bluffs 17, Marcus Midtown Cinema, AMC Westroads 14, Marcus Twin Creek Cinema, Regal Omaha Stadium 16.

Starring: Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Ronda Rousey, Emily Ratajkowski, Rex Lee, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Perrey Reeves, Constance Zimmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Haley Joel Osment.

So, Entourage. I didn’t watch the show so I admittedly am not an expert on the material, but if this movie is anything to judge by its obvious that the show isn’t for me. From what I understand some of the earlier seasons seemed to be mocking its self-absorbed egotistical characters, and I’m all for that, but that’s not what this movie was.

These characters are not that likable. All four of our leads are 40 something who are constantly hounding women who all look a solid generation younger than they do. The only one who genuinely makes it work for him is Adrian Grenier, and credit must be given to Kevin Dillon, who plays his role just sleazy enough to where I honestly bought it. Most of the time this aspect of the movie falls flat on its face.

Let’s talk about the cameos, because good god does this movie love its cameos. There’s got to be near one-hundred in this thing, you’d have to see it twice to get all of them. This could be kind of cool except for the fact that most of the cameos can be boiled down to “hey, look its, (insert name here)!” or one of said cameos using an expletive. It gets repetitive, but I’d be lying if I said they all necessarily failed. Ronda Rousey is at least charming as a love interest for Jerry Ferrara. Emily Ratajkowski looks about as good as she normally does. Of course, she’s only used for eye-candy, right down to her hair blowing in the wind in situations where it shouldn’t. Kelsey Grammer showing off for a one-off line I thought worked, to avoid spoilers I thought the film put angry Kelsey Grammer to good use.

On to Ari Gold. Jeremy Piven’s performance is probably the best part of the movie and I can kind of see how he won the awards he did during the show’s run. I laughed a few times but honestly during a lot of the run-time he mostly just came off like a screaming idiot. I liked the speech he had when he was in couple’s therapy with his wife but moments like that were too few and far between.

I hate to keep coming back to the point that these characters are douchebags, but it’s one of the biggest problems with the movie. It became apparent to me while the opening scene was playing and Adrian Grenier said that he had divorced his wife, whom he married at the end of the series I presume, after nine days. Nine days. Nine. Even Kim Kardashian lasted two months dude, Christ. This could have potential as a recurring gag where the movie makes fun of his character for being a Hollywood stereotype, but its mentioned maybe once more after that, and the movie just lets it go.

The plot follows Grenier’s Vincent Chase as he gets a call from Ari Gold asking him to star in a new project from the studio Ari now helms. Chase refuses to sign on unless he gets to direct, and once he gets into the director’s chair he goes over budget almost immediately. There is a bit of ambiguity at first but eventually everybody sees the film and loves it. We see a bit of this movie and I didn’t buy that this movie would have that much confidence behind it, I really didn’t. It looked like it was overdosing on style, it looked like something directed by Zack Snyder.

There are several B-plots through the movie, Kevin Connolly’s character, E’s ex is having a baby. Kevin Dillon’s Johnny Drama has been struggling with getting relevant roles and sees this movie as his big break, Jerry Ferrara’s Turtle really wants to date Ronda Rousey. There’s no real stakes in any of this, the film seems spread too thin.

The direction is underwhelming. There’s no real point during Entourage where it looks like a movie, director and series creator Doug Ellin just makes it look like another episode of the show. Let’s compare this, for example to Sopranos showrunner David Chase’s directoral debut, Not Fade Away. Not a great film, but it does in fact look like a movie.

Entourage isn’t very good, but there’s a lack of cynicism in the craftsmanship that is very hard for me to get mad at. I don’t recommend it, but I doubt it’ll end up anywhere near my worst 10 of the year list. Now excuse me while I sneak off to go watch the show.

I didn’t say that. Entourage is terrible, I hate it. Please don’t take my feminist card away from me.

Rating: **