Thursday, June 4, 2015

Movie Review #266: "Entourage" (2015)

Movie"Entourage"
Ticket Price: $12.50
Director: Doug Ellin
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
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Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) has gone back to work, now as the head of a studio. In his first act as studio head, he wants to make a big movie and he wants Vince (Adrian Grenier) to star in it. Vince agrees under one condition: he wants to direct the movie, too. Ari complies, and of course, Vincent brings his entourage, including E (Kevin Connolly), Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) along for the ride. When the film goes over budget and Ari has to ask the investor, Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton), for more money, Larsen insists that his son Travis (Haley Joel Osment) see a screening of the film first. But when Travis starts causing unnecessary trouble, it puts all of their careers in jeopardy.

If you were/are a fan of the HBO television show "Entourage," there is little doubt you will enjoy the "Entourage" movie as well. This film is basically an extended episode of the television series with tons of sex, nudity and a plethora of celebrity cameos, plus some funny and outrageous moments along the way. "Entourage" is one big boast about how great it is to be a successful Hollywood male celebrity or part of that celebrity's entourage. They have tons of money, women flock to them constantly regardless of their stature, and they get to meet and hangout with other actors and sports stars. It also shows the ugly side of film making, as well as the backstabbing that often goes along with it. There are often unrelated and unknown personal vendettas behind the scenes, which start to impact the production of Vinnie's movie itself. Jeremy Piven plays the unforgettable rage-ball known as Ari Gold and seems to be the central focus of the film. He is certainly the most interesting character in he movie (as well as the show) as he deals with his rage issues and the stress of running a huge movie studio, all while dealing with his new investors from Texas. Ari is also constantly hounded by his former assistant Lloyd, played by Rex Lee, about giving him away at his upcoming wedding. Each other character has there own little subplot, too. Eddie, aka E, is trying to juggle having casual sex with multiple women, sometimes even more than one a day, with being the producer to Vinnie's new film and Vinnie's manager, as well as his ex-wife Sloan, played by Emmanuelle Chriqui, who is having his child. Talk about drama. Sloan and E are apparently looking to rekindle their relationship, but the audience hardly gets the time to be interested in this subplot since she goes into labor relatively quickly. Turtle, who has slimmed down since the television show ended and is the butt of endless "you used to be fat ha ha" jokes, has taken a romantic interest in the baddest woman on the planet, "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey. When he screws things up with her, he may have to put his body on the line to prove himself and how serious he is about her. Ronda Rousey seems less stiff here than in her other movie roles, but not by much. Her part is much more substantial than we thought it would be and she actually gets to balance some speaking lines with showcasing her MMA abilities for the camera. Johnny Drama, one of the other more interesting characters because of his pathetic nature, hopes that his part in Vince's new movie will finally be his big break, since he has been trying to make it big in Hollywood for decades without any huge success. Drama is also subjected to demons from his past that come out in a rather unflattering form online. As for Vince himself, well, he just wants to make his movie and make it perfect to prove the doubters and haters wrong.

Where to begin about our thoughts on this movie. Well, for one, I watched about 3 seasons of the show and am not really sure why. The basis of the show involves how self-centered, vapid, one-dimensional, and hollow both our stars and Hollywood itself can be. Totally not by bag. I guess we had hoped this movie would be more than another elongated episode of the show. Nothing really changes along the way, nothing is new or different, it's all the same old "broseph" type of stuff, which as we mentioned, if you liked from the start, you will still like now. What we as audience members would have liked to see was more of Vincent's movie, "Hyde," which we only got a small, extended taste of over what was shown in the trailer. This was really the most compelling part of the film and by far the shortest part, too. The additions of Billy Bob Thornton and Haley Joel Osment were fine, but they play rich, gun-toting Southern stereotypes who really have no business being associated with Hollywood other than the money it brings. We're not really sure the masses were clamoring for a movie version of this television show, but it obviously had a big enough fan base to do so. And hell, if you're going off of the cameos alone, obviously those in Hollywood wanted it to get made since everyone and their mothers are in this movie! At one point, it got to be a bit too many cameos, in fact. Who needs to see David Arquette resurface for the first time in a decade? Or a bunch of pointless one-line conversations with the likes of Ed O'Neill, Rob Gronkowski, David Spade and Pharell and his gigantic hat? It's like the male version of a soap opera with more casual misogyny, so if that's you're thing, more power to you, but otherwise, for us, this was just a movie that existed and a way to kill an hour and 40 minutes. It will keep you entertained, but it won't have any long-lasting impact for anyone who wasn't already invested in the show.

My Rating: 6/10
BigJ's Rating: 6/10
IMDB's Rating: ~8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: ~32%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?

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