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Let me start off with a disclaimer; I am not a fan of
Entourage.
The stretch of eight seasons on HBO was more than enough for
me to sometimes suffer through while my husband giggled like a schoolgirl at the
‘boys will be boys’ antics and humor of locker room jokes.
When I hung around to
watch the show with him I found I would be rolling my eyes as he giggled and
guffawed. The early seasons of Entourage were the better ones - most fans agree on that.
Like young
friendships, there is a time to move on and live an adult life and if you’re
lucky some those friendships return and resume where you left off and that is
what the next chapter is about in Entourage: the Movie.
The movie doesn’t pick up years later in the Vinnie Chase
brat pack, loosely based on Mark Wahlberg and his crew of boyhood friends, but
does pick up after a few life changing events that develop each of the
characters as they continue to ‘grow up’. Some things don’t change. Johnny
Drama is still struggling to gain validation as a true Hollywood actor. Ari
Gold is still battling his humongous ego and control issues while trying to be the husband his
wife wants. Lloyd Lee is no longer Ari’s assistant and has moved on with his
own success. Eric is ever the cordial gentleman but still the accidental stud. Vincent Chase is the pretty boy who always has a beautiful girl hanging on his
arm, and finally Salvatore Assante, aka ‘Turtle’, who has become the most financially
successful of the boys, noted at the start of the movie, with a windfall
partnership with Mark Cuban selling tequila, the spirit of choice through out
the show.
Speaking of which, Avion tequila is a very smooth tequila and makes a frequent appearance through out the movie, mostly on Marl Cuban's tee shirt.
In the movie the humor is still gratuitous. The nudity of
the expected collection of beautiful groupies is still there for the ogling.
The collection of cameos of notable personalities and Hollywood A-listers are
all still there. What else would you expect in a movie about Hollywood and the
folks who are trying to ‘make it’?
Let us not forget there is an element of truth in humor.
Entourage was supposed to be a tongue in cheek look at what it’s like to live
and work in Hollywood and the entertainment industry. I think the cable show
entertained better early on than in its later seasons, but the depictions of
the characters and the shallowness of what goes on was developed in the movie
regardless of the critics. The critics slammed this movie. Maybe they slammed
it because the people who made the show continued the message to the movie.
People don’t change, but they can evolve. Being human is a process. Hollywood
is a mecca of shallow people. Entertainment is a shallow business, but it still
makes money. Hollywood also depends on other people’s money to make movies and
it’s the Texas money of father and son team Larsen and Travis McCredle, played
by Billy Bob Thornton and Haley Joel Osment. Osment played a rich kid brat who
reminded me of an unkempt and chubby Brandon Hantz from Survivor: South
Pacific. He’s pissy, prickly and entitled.
My favorite characters were Johnny Drama and Arid Gold.
Drama is the super talented home cook but still painfully pining to be a movie
star. Ari knows what he has to do and he ‘fffing gets it done”.Lloyd Lee makes brief pop-ins throughout the movie tasking his homophobic ex-boss to be a part of his wedding to Greg Louganis(uncredited).
I liked this movie because of the sameness of the
characters. Most people I know acknowledge they have ‘work to do’ on
themselves, but it’s rarely the first thing they think about when they get up
in the morning. That is what is in the magic of coffee.
The Entourage story is about binding friendships and
loyalty. If you were a fan of the TV show, you will certainly be a fan of the
movie. It is a continuation of the series. What else could it be? There are plenty of women in this flick, all of them beautiful, but the movie isn't about them. It's all about the boys.
Stay for the credits.
Very well stated
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