It’s not unusual for a Hollywood studio to revamp a series, but it’s not often you get the entire original cast, and from a series that flopped in syndication, no less.
The bring-back-Entourage film opens off the coast of Ibiza, Spain to a cigarette boat, topless girls and Drama (Keven Dillon) uttering one of his stupid crass comments. Vince (Adrian Grenier) has just come out of a bad marriage, and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) has lost a ton of weight and made a fortune on his Tequila company. And then there’s Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) who – when last the HBO series ended – had retired. Of course his retirement lasted longer than Vincent Chase’s first marriage. And now he’s back, running a studio. His first film is going to star his prize client Vince, but oh yes, one problem: what Vince “really wants to do is direct.”
When Piers Morgan (as Piers Morgan) profiles Vince on a TV show, it’s clear that his loyal fans of his big hit “Aqua Man” and his loyal-er friends – his entourage – are what really matter to him. But with Ari in a tense position of producing a huge hit movie, or else… he hightails it off to Amarillo Texas to meet with the film’s investor (Billy Bob Thornton) and his dysfunctional and perverted Forrest-Gump of a son, Travis (Haley Joel Osment) who decides the film should be done his way.
Sidekick characters like Lloyd are back for side laughs, as well as Sloan (Emmanuelle Chirqui) and a list of cameos from Liam Neeson to Pharrell and even Mark Wahlberg (the movie star that the show is based on in real life.)
In the end, the boys’ naughty energy is pumped up by a rocking soundtrack. ‘Entourage” seems like the “Emperor’s New Clothes” of films. Somehow there’s nothing there, but we really love it. And Ari, as ever, steals the show. Three tiaras