When Entourage aired on HBO from 2004-2011, I used to watch it religiously. In fact, I thought it’s one of the best shows on TV at the time. But just like most great shows, the last couple of seasons just went downhill. Nevertheless, when the producers announced that a film version was going to come out right after the show ended, I can’t help but get excited about it.
Unfortunately it took them 4 years to get the film to the big screen and now the boys are back. For those who’ve never seen the show, it’s loosely based on the show’s producer Mark Walberg’s early career in Hollywood. It celebrates and at the same time, mocks the excess life style of the celebrities and filmmakers in Hollywood. The show’s also well known for its famous cameos from celebrities, athletes, musicians and filmmakers. Even A-list directors such as James Cameron and Martin Scorsese appeared on show.
The film picks up just a few weeks after the show ended. Ari (Jeremy Piven) is now running a big Hollywood movie studio. Vince (Adrian Grenier) and his best pal/manager Eric “E” (Kevin Connolly) are now single again. Vince’s brother Johnny “Drama” (Kevin Dillon) is still trying to make it as an actor even though he’s well into his 40s. While Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) became super rich after he started his liquor business with Mark Cuban. Since Ari is close with Vince, he offered him to star in his first big tentpole picture for the studio. Vince said he’ll do it only if he can direct it too; this of course made everyone nervous since no one knows if he can direct a film or not. The story then jumps 8 months ahead and Vince’s film is almost done, but he’s yet to show it to Ari because he needs more money to finish the visual effects.
In order to get more money, Ari has to go to Texas and beg the studio’s co-financier billionaire businessman named Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton) to write him another check. McCredle is not happy because he’s invested a lot of money to the studio and he’s yet to see his returns. Vince’s new film will make or break a lot people’s careers, including Ari’s. McCredle will give Ari more money only if his spoiled and obnoxious son Travis (the unrecognizable Haley Joel Osment) likes the movie. This creates a problem because Ari has yet to see a single frame of Vince’s film.
This kind of storyline would’ve been great had the filmmaker stuck with it, but unfortunately the rest of the movie is all about the boys’ usual shenanigans. I don’t want to see another lame storyline of Eric having more girl issues, Drama embarrasses himself again and Turtle trying to get laid with a hot chick. And the supposed star of the show, Vince, didn’t have much to do throughout the film. Why didn’t they write up a story of Vince’s struggle to make his first film and the responsibilities of directing a tent pole picture? That would’ve been a great story to tell; unfortunately this film’s just a longer version of the bad TV episode from the show.
The only saving grace for this film was Jeremy Piven’s performance, I’m glad they made him the lead. The rest of cast were fine, I mean they’re so comfortable with their respective characters that no one could screw up. Pretty much all of the familiar faces showed up in this film and of course the endless cameos.
Most fans of the show will probably love it but for me it’s quite disappointing. It has so much potential but they’ve decided to just make another bad episode, just two hours longer.
Have you seen the Entourage movie? Well, what did you think?
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I used to be a fan of the show but it jumped the shark for me when E and Vince got back together so quickly after Vince got a role in Martin Scorsese’s version of The Great Gatsby. After that, it wasn’t the same and it got really stupid. I have no interest in seeing the film.
Yeah the show went downhill the last few seasons. I don’t recommend the movie at all.
Damn, I have never seen the show, but the first couple of paragraphs had me interested! Sad to hear they didn’t stick with that, that is a movie I would have wanted to see, especially with Billy Bob in it.
This film has so much potential to be great but they’ve decided to just made it into another lame episode from the TV show. I wish they involved more of Billy Bob’s character in the movie but he’s only in like 2 scenes.
That really sucks to hear BBT is only in two scenes. He is one of the best actors going around, that is just criminal. If they had focused on the plot that Ruth outlined in the first couple of paragraphs, they coulda had something really interesting.
But I s’pose it is good business to stick with a formula that has already proven to be a money maker =/
I used to watch the show but tuned out during the last season. Ari is a scene stealer and I’d still be interested in eventually checking out the movie but I won’t be expecting much.
Ari was the only good thing in the movie, I don’t recall much of the show’s last season either.
That’s disappointing to hear. I thought this movie might connect atleast with fans of the show, if not the general audiences. Will still be watching it though.
Actually I thought the movie was made ONLY for fans of the show but to me, it needs to be more than that for a film version. Like I said, most fans of the show will probably enjoy it.
I’ve never seen the show so I think I’ll be giving this one a miss until I do. It’s a shame it doesn’t do the tv series justice though.
The show’s never known for it’s “quality” since most critics dismissed it as a male version of SEX & THE CITY. Personally I thought it’s great because it showed the good and bad side of Hollywood business.
Good review, Ted. Love the actors, but not so much the show and the film sounds exactly how I imagined it would be.
Thanks Cindy, the actors were fine. The blame goes to the filmmakers for coming up with such a lame story line.
So what if you’ve never watched the show, does this movie have any reasons to see it?
No, I can’t recommend the movie if you’ve never seen the show. It’s basically made for fans but as a fan myself, I thought it’s very disappointing.
I’ve never seen the show…I’ll probably never see the movie.
If you’ve never seen the show then this isn’t a movie for you. Even as a fan of the show myself, I didn’t like it.
I only saw a few episodes of the first seasons and wasn’t interested enough to keep with it. I didn’t catch the movie either, but sent a couple of other Assholes who also weren’t fans of the show, and it seems that the movie went over better with people wit no prior experience of it. Fans seem a bit disappointed.
Funny is that I think the movie was made only for fans but it backfired on them. This is a good example of lazy filmmaking.
Oh and super dumb question, but where can I find the monthly series you’ve got going?
Hi Jay! Oh you mean Five for the Fifth? There should be a link to the previous post at the bottom of this one, but here ya go: https://flixchatter.net/2015/06/04/five-for-the-fifth-june-2015-edition/ Looking fwd to your answers! 😉
I loved the show so will most likely enjoy this. It needs to reach out to more than the show’s fans, however, if it hopes to do much business.
That’s the problem with the movie, it only tried to please the fans of the show. If I’ve never seen the show, I’d probably walked out of the movie about 20 minutes in.
I’ve never seen the show, but I’ve always wanted to check it out. I won’t see the movie, though, unless I watch the show first. 😉
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