Entourage - directed by Doug Ellin
Starring: Adrian Grenier, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connelly, Jerry Ferrara, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Perrey Reeves, Debi Mazar, Ronda Rousey, Constance Zimmer, Rex Lee, Nina Agdal, Haley Joel Osment, Billy Bob Thornton, Emily Ratajkowski, Piers Morgan
Running Time: 104 minutes
Rated: R16 - language and nudity - medium amounts of both
Entourage the TV series ended just under 4 years ago so this big screen adaptation has taken a fair wee while to arrive.
That gives a little wiggle room for the script by happy accident.
When the eighth and final season ended Eric and Sloan were together, Ari and Melissa were in Italy retired but with a pending offer of employment and Vince was heading for marriage with Sophia (the stunning Alice Eve)
It did seem like a pretty neatly-tied-in-a-bow ending and I am sure that it was intended as such.
But fan demands and no doubt studio realisation that there was box office to be made have resulted in the first feature film starring Vince and the boys.
It is always interesting seeing a tv show makes the transition to the big screen because as often as you get a "Serenity" or a "Star Trek" you get a "Inbetweeners" or a "Mr Bean".
Not that those last two are bad - they just don't capture the feel of the source shows.
Frankly I was worried about the very same issue as "Entourage" started.
The opening scene exists to brutally wipe out all that has happened from the last time we saw the guys.
Eric and Sloane have split but she is heavily pregnant with their child.
Ari is now Studio head.
And Vince and Sophie split very quickly although Turtle assures him nowhere near the record for quickest divorces that Britney Spears holds.
(Technically it will be an annulment - so a 'never happened' situation)
So we assume that the four years between the final season of the tv show and the movie translates to considerably less in movie time.
From there we go into the familiar Entourage music as the credits begin.
They aren't identical to the TV show opening but they are so damned close that it feels weird sitting in a cinema effectively watching a TV show.
But very quickly it starts to settle in and feel just as much fun as we are used to from the Entourage guys.
The characters are the same and the snappy, profane dialogue still exists.
There is an abundance of cameos as the story is set up.
Vince is starring in a big budget movie that he is also directing.
It is over budget and could be the end of Ari as studio head as it is all his baby.
There is a Texan financier (Billy Bon Thornton in a role far too small) who is bankrolling the movie and unfortunately he comes with some baggage - a doofus of a son (Haley Joel Osment).
Yes- the kid from "The Sixth Sense".
He looks very different but plays this role very, very well.
This kid has some problems with Vince's movie and so the fun begins.
As with the show the Entourage movie affords each of the main characters plenty of screen time and plenty of stresses, successes and conquests.
In fact many of those conquests are for a character we are not used to seeing this way.
The show has always featured an abundance of nudity and the movie ups the amount of flesh a fair bit.
Love interests come mainly in the form of celebrity cameo.
Vince seems to have something with a certain high profile model and music video star while Turtle is very keen on Ronda Rousey.
Eric still has contact with Sloan (the still staggeringly beautiful Emmanuelle Chriqui) but has a new girl in his life.
It is with the romances that the movie starts to show the problems of bringing a tv series to a 100 minute feature.
There isn't much time to tell the sorts of stories that the show could take a season telling.
I could see Vince's directorial debut taking at least an entire season - possibly two or three had it been a tv series plot.
In fact the movie 'Medellin' took up three seasons and introduced a host of characters and an abundance of problems.
That fictitious films director Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro) appears in this film but it is so brief that Coiro's opening credit recognition seems very generous indeed.
Many show characters including Busey and Alba are give mere seconds as the film checks off the required appearances.
And the restrictions of a feature running time mean that the central plot - let alone the subplots involving Drama, Eric and Turtle - just can't twist and turn like the tv shows.
We are used to seeing all manner of political maneuvering from Ari in particular as he does what he does so well.
There isn't time here for too much of that.
He still has a host of very funny lines but it left me pining for the longer form where he could really cut loose.
But when all is said and done it is still great spending time with the Entourage crew again.
I just enjoy the characters.
There is some growth for most and a few things are clarified that I had always wondered about.
I don't like that the time the show spent building up Alice Eve's Sophia as the perfect match for Vinnie was all for nothing but there is something very Vinnie-like in the way he explains it in the opening scene.
And this film is funny.
Unsurprisingly Ari and Drama get the bulk of the laughs and there are several big ones.
(Ari's impromptu encounter with Liam Neeson is brilliant)
Whatever quibbles I have over the truncated nature of the feature film (and in all honesty a very rushed and conveniently wrapped up finale) amount to minor griping and probably more to do with me wanting more and more time with these guys and this 'world'.
I have criticised this film quite a lot and I would have liked to have seen maybe a two hour plus cut with a bit better pacing but I had so much fun watching it that it would be hypocritical to award it any less than I am.
I just liked it a lot.
If you are a fan of the show which I most certainly am then I would be very surprised if you didn't too.
RATING: 75 / 100
CONCLUSION: Yeah- it needs to be longer and it does destroy a lot of what the show built to for its finale but this is the real deal - a genuine Entourage movie that feels very much like the TV show. It's for the fans.
Running Time: 104 minutes
Rated: R16 - language and nudity - medium amounts of both
Entourage the TV series ended just under 4 years ago so this big screen adaptation has taken a fair wee while to arrive.
That gives a little wiggle room for the script by happy accident.
When the eighth and final season ended Eric and Sloan were together, Ari and Melissa were in Italy retired but with a pending offer of employment and Vince was heading for marriage with Sophia (the stunning Alice Eve)
It did seem like a pretty neatly-tied-in-a-bow ending and I am sure that it was intended as such.
But fan demands and no doubt studio realisation that there was box office to be made have resulted in the first feature film starring Vince and the boys.
It is always interesting seeing a tv show makes the transition to the big screen because as often as you get a "Serenity" or a "Star Trek" you get a "Inbetweeners" or a "Mr Bean".
Not that those last two are bad - they just don't capture the feel of the source shows.
Frankly I was worried about the very same issue as "Entourage" started.
The opening scene exists to brutally wipe out all that has happened from the last time we saw the guys.
Eric and Sloane have split but she is heavily pregnant with their child.
Ari is now Studio head.
And Vince and Sophie split very quickly although Turtle assures him nowhere near the record for quickest divorces that Britney Spears holds.
(Technically it will be an annulment - so a 'never happened' situation)
So we assume that the four years between the final season of the tv show and the movie translates to considerably less in movie time.
From there we go into the familiar Entourage music as the credits begin.
They aren't identical to the TV show opening but they are so damned close that it feels weird sitting in a cinema effectively watching a TV show.
But very quickly it starts to settle in and feel just as much fun as we are used to from the Entourage guys.
The characters are the same and the snappy, profane dialogue still exists.
There is an abundance of cameos as the story is set up.
Vince is starring in a big budget movie that he is also directing.
It is over budget and could be the end of Ari as studio head as it is all his baby.
There is a Texan financier (Billy Bon Thornton in a role far too small) who is bankrolling the movie and unfortunately he comes with some baggage - a doofus of a son (Haley Joel Osment).
Yes- the kid from "The Sixth Sense".
He looks very different but plays this role very, very well.
This kid has some problems with Vince's movie and so the fun begins.
 |
| The gang are back - Vinnie, Eric (E), Drama, Turtle and Ari Gold |
In fact many of those conquests are for a character we are not used to seeing this way.
The show has always featured an abundance of nudity and the movie ups the amount of flesh a fair bit.
Love interests come mainly in the form of celebrity cameo.
Vince seems to have something with a certain high profile model and music video star while Turtle is very keen on Ronda Rousey.
Eric still has contact with Sloan (the still staggeringly beautiful Emmanuelle Chriqui) but has a new girl in his life.
It is with the romances that the movie starts to show the problems of bringing a tv series to a 100 minute feature.
There isn't much time to tell the sorts of stories that the show could take a season telling.
I could see Vince's directorial debut taking at least an entire season - possibly two or three had it been a tv series plot.
In fact the movie 'Medellin' took up three seasons and introduced a host of characters and an abundance of problems.
That fictitious films director Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro) appears in this film but it is so brief that Coiro's opening credit recognition seems very generous indeed.
Many show characters including Busey and Alba are give mere seconds as the film checks off the required appearances.
And the restrictions of a feature running time mean that the central plot - let alone the subplots involving Drama, Eric and Turtle - just can't twist and turn like the tv shows.
We are used to seeing all manner of political maneuvering from Ari in particular as he does what he does so well.
There isn't time here for too much of that.
He still has a host of very funny lines but it left me pining for the longer form where he could really cut loose.
 |
| Cameos abound as expected... Ronda Rousy, Nina Agdal and Liam Neeson to name a mere fraction |
I just enjoy the characters.
There is some growth for most and a few things are clarified that I had always wondered about.
I don't like that the time the show spent building up Alice Eve's Sophia as the perfect match for Vinnie was all for nothing but there is something very Vinnie-like in the way he explains it in the opening scene.
And this film is funny.
Unsurprisingly Ari and Drama get the bulk of the laughs and there are several big ones.
(Ari's impromptu encounter with Liam Neeson is brilliant)
Whatever quibbles I have over the truncated nature of the feature film (and in all honesty a very rushed and conveniently wrapped up finale) amount to minor griping and probably more to do with me wanting more and more time with these guys and this 'world'.
I have criticised this film quite a lot and I would have liked to have seen maybe a two hour plus cut with a bit better pacing but I had so much fun watching it that it would be hypocritical to award it any less than I am.
I just liked it a lot.
If you are a fan of the show which I most certainly am then I would be very surprised if you didn't too.
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