Whether you missed them or not, bros are back
Let sleeping bros lie. Eight seasons of HBO's Entourage were more than enough. What began in 2004 as a winking expose of Hollywood's glammy superficiality - with blue-eyed pretty boy Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his posse from Queens rubbing elbows with cameoing stars, and rubbing other body parts with a bevy of starlets - became superficial in its own right. Creator Doug Ellin and his team had run their course.
Let sleeping bros lie.
Eight seasons of HBO's Entourage were more than enough. What began in 2004 as a winking expose of Hollywood's glammy superficiality - with blue-eyed pretty boy Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his posse from Queens rubbing elbows with cameoing stars, and rubbing other body parts with a bevy of starlets - became superficial in its own right. Creator Doug Ellin and his team had run their course.
So, of course, Ellin gets a deal to bring Vince and his best buds - manager Eric "E" Murphy (Kevin Connolly), childhood friend-turned-driver "Turtle" (Jerry Ferrara), and Vince's half-brother, aspiring actor Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon) - back for a big-screen reunion. And, of course, there's the turbo-powered Hollywood agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), only now he's a newly appointed, seriously stressed studio head.
If the movie versions of Sex and the City made money, why not Entourage? Narcissism. Sexism. Box office-ism.
Beginning off the coast of Ibiza, where Vince - star of James Cameron's mega-million hit Aquaman - is celebrating the annulment of his nine-day marriage by throwing a yacht party (topless babes, brainless patter), Entourage quickly jets back to La La Land, where Ari has green-lit Vince's dark, futuristic $100 million-plus new project, Hyde (as in Jekyll and . . .). But Ari has taken a big risk, acquiescing to his star's deal-breaker demand: Like Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner before him, Vince wants to direct.
Ulcer-inducing budget overruns and conflicts with the film's backers, a Texas billionaire (Billy Bob Thornton) and his blockhead son (Haley Joel Osment), ensue. Vince can't decide whether he's going to date actress Emily Ratajkowski (played with uncanny realism by actress Emily Ratajkowski) or just be friends. (The way Entourage has been edited, director Ellin seems to have had trouble deciding how much of the actress' screen time he could cut while maintaining an essential piece of the plot.)
Meanwhile, "Drama" has his dramas. Will his world of humiliating bit-part auditions, living in the shadow of his younger sibling (and sleeping in Vince's guest room when times get hard), be redeemed by a pivotal supporting role in Hyde? Will Eric reconcile with his ex, Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui), or continue to have hot, commitment-free sex with a parade of women who inexplicably (even to him) find him attractive? Will Turtle, gym-buffed and freshly minted in the liquor biz (cue the Tequila Avión product placement), be able to win the heart of mixed-martial arts star Ronda Rousey (played with uncanny realism by mixed-martial arts star Ronda Rousey)?
And will Ari keep his job and his sanity - and get Vince the extra millions he needs to finish Hyde?
Oy, the suspense!
Entourage, in fact, is lacking in suspense altogether. Unless you're the kind of person kept on tenterhooks by wondering which real-life celeb is going to show up in the movie more than once. Liam Neeson? Pharrell Williams? Mark Wahlberg? (Hint: Wahlberg was an executive producer of the series and the film.)
And what are tenterhooks, anyway?
MOVIE REVIEW
Entourage ** (Out of four stars)
Directed by Doug Ellin. With Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon, Jeremy Piven, Emmanuelle Chriqui. Distributed by Warner Bros.
Running time: 1 hour, 44 mins.
Parent's guide: R (sex, nudity, profanity, adult themes).
Playing at: Area theaters.
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