Entourage review: Basically a higher-budgeted, extended version of the hit HBO show. Far too many gratuitous cameos, though it’s hard to resist its charm on the big-screen which will more than delight die-hard fans of the original series.
Read our full Entourage review below.
Entourage review
Director: Doug Ellin
Cast: Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon, Jeremy Piven.
Certificate: 15.
Run Time: 104 minutes.
Synopsis: While hanging with pals Eric (Kevin Connolly), Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), movie star Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) gets a phone call from Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), his former agent, who now runs a major studio. Ari offers Vince the leading role in his first production, but the actor insists on also directing the film. Things get out of hand when the $100 million flick goes over budget, leaving Ari, Vince and the boys at the mercy of the cutthroat world of Hollywood..
Following eight successful seasons on HBO, Entourage is the latest property to make the transition from TV screen to big screen. Loosely based on the life of Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg, who also produces, the show, and now film, charts the rise to fame of A-list actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his three friends; His manager E, played by Kevin Connelly, driver Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), and half-brother/ part-time cook Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon). Also along for the ride is a scene stealing Jeremy Piven as agent Ari Gold. The five make up his Entourage, and his guiding lights through the treacherous roads of modern-day Tinseltown.
I think it’s important to mention from the off that I was a huge fan of the original TV series, and have seen every single one of the 96 episodes, probably more than once, which is probably a tad unhealthy. Each episode was crafted to a neat 20-25 minutes featuring a self-contained sub-story, along with continuing drama, all of which is centred around its very well developed central characters. The show was a joy, and gave a brilliant, though slightly fantasised view of the film industry, and what it is potentially like to be a player at the top of the game in a town full of ruthlessness. It was funny, engaging and at times emotional, and I personally looked forward to each week’s new episode in the years that it ran.
Must read: THN’s guide to the characters of Entourage
Entourage review continues:
The show came to a very distinct end in 2011 with each character’s loose ends tied up quite nicely, so it was quite the shock to hear word that a film version was very much in the works over at Warner Bros. After fermenting in the can for quite a while now, Entourage (the movie) finally graces our screens at the start of summer, and rightly so as it is very much a summer film, albeit one with a considerably smaller budget than most seasonal films swerving onto the big screen at the moment.
It’s always difficult to have a successful show translate to cinemas, but Entourage has always seemed destined to arrive on the big screen is some form, and the return of Vinnie and the boys is very much welcomed to a summer full of sequels, prequels and superheroes.
Entourage review
We find our main man on the Balearic seas on the party island of Ibiza at the start of the film, the storytellers opting to tell us from the off that Chase’s marriage (to Alice Eve no less) has very much broken down, and Hollywood’s favourite movie actor is a single man once again. En route to meet him, and help him drown his sorrows on his rented multi-million dollar yacht, are friends E, Drama and a very slimmed down Turtle, whose sudden weight loss is a consistent running joke throughout the film. The basis of the plot, mixed in with a million separate sub plots is that Chase is on the lookout for a new movie project, and former agent turned studio head Ari Gold (Piven) is very much the man to find it for him. Enter Hyde, an elaborate $100 million plus project that Chase also directs. Fast-forward eight months and we’re back in Hollywood post-shoot where struggles in the edit suite are causing Chase and co. to need a further $15 million to finish the movie, with only Gold and his studio backers, played by a brilliant Billy Bob Thornton and Haley-Joel Osment, able to help.
Running at a lengthy 104 minutes, Entourage is basically an extended version of the show, which is fine for avid fans of the original format (like me), but could cause a bit of a struggle for new fans of the show. Luckily for new viewers, Britain’s own Piers Morgan is on hand to kick things off with a retrospective feature to fill in cinema-goers with Chase and co.’s story so far. While quite a novel idea to start things off, the point seems laboured to Entourage veterans, but noted that it’s very much needed to novices. What follows is 100 or so minutes of new story, tons of star cameos (far too many) that mostly seemed forced, and witty dialogue, mostly coming from the two real stars of the show, and now movie, Johnny Drama (Dillon), and Piven’s foul mouthed and highly sexed Ari Gold. The two are clearly the best thing about the film, and it was a joy to see them on screen once again.
Entourage is not going to set the world alight. It’s great comedy at its best, and a very gratuitous, fantastical look into the Hollywood culture at its worst. Fans of the show will get a lot out of the new chapter in the Entourage saga, but I don’t believe newbies will get a lot out of it going in cold. My only hope is that the presence of the new film will intrigue them enough to go back to its TV roots and discover this brilliant little show from the beginning. After all of the glitz and the glamour of a big screen outing, it’s the small screen where Entourage truly belongs. That said, we’d probably take further adventures as they come, and I hope creator Doug Ellin and producer Wahlberg get a chance to present more Entourage adventures in any way they can in the future.
Entourage review by Paul Heath, June 2015.
Entourage opens in cinemas in the UK on June 19th, 2015. It is now playing in US cinemas.
