Entourage (2015) review

When it comes to TV shows, HBO has become well-known for producing a slew of critically acclaimed series, from ‘Game of Thrones’ to ‘The Sopranos’ to ‘The Wire’. And one of their biggest hits in the early 2000’s was ‘Entourage’, which was partially inspired by the life and career of series producer Mark Wahlberg. The show, which revolved around actor Vincent Chase and the adventures that he had in Los Angeles with his ‘entourage’ of friends; ‘E’, ‘Turtle’, and ‘Drama’, ran for eight seasons from 2004 to 2011 and was a critical and commercial success, garnering a bunch of awards, including three Emmy wins for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actor’ for Jeremy Piven in the role of hot-headed agent Ari Gold. And now, four years after the series’ conclusion, the boys from Queens are back for a feature-length film, with series creator Doug Ellin behind the camera for this film continuation of ‘Entourage’. Now whenever you have a film ‘continuation’ of a hit TV series (e.g. ‘Serenity’, ‘Veronica Mars’), one of the biggest questions is whether or not the film can appeal to those who haven’t seen a single episode of the show. In the case of ‘Entourage’, I do think that this is one of those cases where I would recommend that you see the show first before watching the film. But believe me when I say that it will all be worth it in the end. Sure the ‘Entourage’ film may not be perfect and, given some of its content, is clearly not for everyone. But if you end up liking the show, then you’ll definitely love the film as it does an excellent job of re-capturing the same fun atmosphere, humor, and satirical nature that made the show so popular in the first place.  

As noted earlier, the film continues on from where the TV show left off as famous actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), star of hit films like James Cameron’s ‘Aquaman’ (and flops like the Pablo Escobar biopic ‘Medellin’) reunites with his best friends; his manager Eric ‘E’ Murphy (Kevin Connolly), his driver ‘Turtle’ (Jerry Ferrara), and his older brother Johnny ‘Drama’ (Kevin Dillon). He is approached by his former agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), now a studio head, to star in his first big film as studio head, ‘Hyde’, a new re-imagining on the classic story ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. Vince agrees but on the condition that he also gets to direct the film as well. However, eight months later, Vince and the gang find themselves $15 million over-budget meaning that they have to ask Ari for more money. This means that Ari must meet with the film’s financiers, millionaire Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton) and his son Travis (Haley Joel Osment), to try and convince them to give them the extra money. But this results in the two of them, primarily Travis, butting into the film’s production as Vince and the gang try to deal with the situation so that they can get the film released. All the while the rest of the gang find themselves facing their own unique dilemmas, including Eric trying to sort out his love life as his girlfriend Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) is expecting, Turtle attempting to hook up with Ronda Rousey, and Drama having to deal with an embarrassing leak.

In the past I’ve said that films like ‘Serenity’ and ‘Veronica Mars’, both of which were also continuations of TV shows, were accessible enough to audiences who haven’t seen those shows before. But looking back, I realized that one of the major reasons why I said that was due to the fact that both of those shows were prematurely canceled; in other words, they were short-lived. ‘Veronica Mars’ only lasted three seasons while ‘Firefly’ (the predecessor to ‘Serenity’) didn’t even get past the first season. So because of that, I feel that it’s easier to see those films without seeing the show first because there wasn’t too much pre-existing story/character development to cover for the uninitiated. ‘Entourage’, on the other hand, lasted eight whole seasons so there were a lot more storylines and character development compared to those other shows. So with that said, this is a case where you should at least watch a few episodes of the show before seeing the film just so that you’re familiar with it. But if you haven’t seen the show before, or if you’re like me and haven’t seen the entire series, the film isn’t completely ‘inaccessible’ to newcomers. A Piers Morgan documentary near the beginning of the film pretty much gets across all of the information that you need to know about where the characters currently are in their lives at the moment without overloading you with every single thing that happened during the series.

If you’re a fan of the show, then you’re going to love this film. It perfectly captures the series’ atmosphere and really it’s just fun to watch these characters traverse through their daily lives in the City of Angels and all of the misadventures that occur from it. Sure, there are certain elements that slow the film down a bit, like the whole bit with Eric and his on again off again relationship with Sloan (a common plot thread of the series) but when Vince, E, Turtle, and Drama are together, that’s where the film really shines. After all, the film is called ‘Entourage’ and the camaraderie between Grenier, Connolly, Dillon, and Ferrara is as strong as it’s ever been. And of course, we can’t forget the best character of the series, Ari Gold, as Jeremy Piven once again steals the show in what is still arguably his most famous role to date. Yeah he’s a total sexist, racist, and homophobic asshole but he’s one of those fun screen ‘assholes’ and he definitely gets some of the funniest lines in the film. And of course you can’t have an ‘Entourage’ film without one of the main things that the series has been known for; a butt-load of cameos and this film just may end up setting the record for most cameos in a film ever. Sure, some of the cameos do feel rather forced but there’s still some fun situations that occur from some of them, like the whole bit with Turtle trying to ask out Ronda Rousey and getting annihilated by her when he goes for a round with her in the ring to try and score a date.  

For the record, I’ve only seen about two and a quarter seasons of ‘Entourage’ (thanks to the free 1-month trial I had for the new service ‘HBO Now’) so I went into this film haven’t not seen the entire series. But I was aware that many fans felt that the show really went downhill in its later seasons and the finale was a fairly poor send-off for the show. So with that said, if this film ends up being the last we see of Vinnie Chase and his pals, then I think fans will find this to be a much more satisfying conclusion to the series. Now given some of the heavy, and I mean it when I say heavy, vitriol that I’ve seen online in regards to both this film and the show, I realize that this film isn’t for everyone. And that definitely shows in this film’s meager 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time I am writing this review). But you know what? There are just some films that aren’t meant for critics and this is one of those films. I know that might sound weird coming from a film critic like myself but it is true in a lot of cases. Now I’m not saying that ‘Entourage’ is a perfect film. It does have some issues like some awkward/potentially highly-insensitive jokes and some storylines that make the film drag at certain points. And yes both the show and the film can be very immature and even fairly misogynistic at times. But as someone who was interested in seeing it before he ever saw a single episode of the series and then binge-watched a whole bunch of episodes in preparation for the film, I’m not going to lie when I say that I had a blast watching this film. As a fan of the show I recognize that I may be a little biased in regards to how much I liked this film but I do think that it’s a fun little Hollywood-set comedy that may or may not appeal to those who haven’t seen the show before.

Rating: 4/5