ENTOURAGE (review)

ENTOURAGE

Written by Doug Ellin & Rob Weiss
Directed by Doug Ellin
Starring Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Jeremy Piven

Ari Gold: If this movie tanks, Vince will not come back from this, neither will I and neither will you.
Vince, E, Turtle, Drama and Ari are back as Doug Ellin brings his popular characters to the big screen in ENTOURAGE. Four years after the close of the television series, Ellin picks up right where he left off and the bromance is stronger than ever.

Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) is newly single and eager to get back to business. Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) is a newly appointed studio head who wants Vince to star in his new movie. Only Vince wants more than that – he wants to play director as well. Given their history together, Ari agrees to take the risk. But as deadlines draw near and Ari is continually asked for more money without any promise of a screening in the imminent future, tensions begin to rise. Especially when the man behind the cash, Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton), sends his obnoxious son Travis (Haley Joel Osment) to Hollywood to keep an eye on the production and protect his investment.

Meanwhile, Eric (Kevin Connolly) is producer on the Ari/Vince project while awaiting the birth of his child with ex-girlfriend Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui), Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) has an awkward relationship with Ronda Rousey and Johnny…well, is Johnny (Kevin Dillon).

The good news is, you don’t have to know anything about the television series to get through the movie. Actually, you pretty much don’t have to know anything about anything to get through the movie.

It is what it is, which is dumb, shallow, juvenile and exaggerated. Not quite as hilarious as the trailer promises, it’s still funny. To expect much more would be rather silly. The tone is set from the opening scene as the boys head to a yacht full of partying, prancing bikini-clad models – some less clad than others – and Royal Blood’s “Figure It Out” blasts in the background. Mind-numbing visual gratification is what it’s all about. Speaking of which, Ellin goes all out in the cameo department, so really, who needs a decent script?

The go-to question in any discussion of this film has generally (and logically) been “Did you watch the series?” But at the end of the day, that’s not nearly as relevant as “Do you snicker when you see boobs, giggle at a good old masturbation joke or become titillated when Ronda Rousey says the F-word?” Because your enjoyment of ENTOURAGE will have much less to do with the answer to the former as it will the latter.

Your turn!

How many sheep would you give Entourage?

[kkstarratings]