When this HBO show ended its eight-season run in 2011, there wasn’t overwhelming demand for a movie. “Sex and the City” had brighter big-screen prospects and — if not bigger stars — more clearly delineated characters.
Fervent TV fans of “Entourage” may differ, but the Hollywood coterie of handsome actor, dumb brother, short manager, and chubby driver sometimes blurred together. (Yes, they’re again played by Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly, and Jerry Ferrara, respectively.) Only Jeremy Piven’s cutthroat agent Ari, here promoted to studio boss, really stood out from the bromantic crowd.
No matter how much Vince (Grenier) and his pals were chasing tail and pursuing Tinseltown dreams, Ari — then and now — is the sole interesting, conflicted character in the franchise. His neediness and shamelessness are so well-honed that you wonder why a cable spinoff hasn’t already been commissioned.
Still, this reunion brings a smile to your face. Though $100 million is at risk with Vince directing and starring in a techno-apocalyptic treatment of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” we know “Entourage” will end in hugs, not tears. Series creator (now director) Doug Ellin offers many complications — the movie’s practically scored with urgently ringing iPhones — including: two pregnancy scares, an over-budget movie, nervous investors, a TMZ sex tape, a love interest for Turtle (the newly svelte Ferrara), and the impending gay marriage of Rex Lee’s beleaguered assistant Lloyd. (Disappointingly, that last strand goes nowhere; and most of Lee’s scenes are literally phoned in.)
Were I to list all the insidery/celebrity cameos here, the roster would be as long as this 400-word review. So I’ll content myself with one: Seahawks QB Russell Wilson at a Malibu beach party, quite capably delivering his lines. (“Just because you’re short doesn’t mean you can’t achieve your dreams,” he says, conspicuously standing atop a rock à la Alan Ladd.)
But Vince and his loyal boys will be OK; if they survived Medellín, they can survive anything. Unlike Carrie and her friends, few here consider the possibility that one day they’ll be old and alone, no longer able to depend on their looks. Leave it to ever-practical E (Connolly) to warn that, beyond the notion of a movie flopping or failing to bed the pretty girl, “We’re almost 35.”
In other words, there’s still time for a sequel.
“Entourage”
Melodrama abounds — impending parenthood, love interests and a sex tape — for the four buddies in this film adaptation of the longtime HBO series. In the middle of it all is Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold and his iPhone. Russell Wilson leads the cavalcade of as-to-be-expected celebrity cameos in a reunion that feels most familiar.
Rating: R, for language, nudity, drug use
Showing: Alderwood, Everett Stadium, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Stanwood Cinemas, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Sundance Cinemas Seattle, Woodinville, Cascade Mall
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