5/10

Hollywood’s most charasmatic crew returns to their crude and fast living ways with a big screen adaptation of the popular HBO television show. “Entourage” reunites the show’s original cast, led by Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Jeremy Piven. Movie star Vincent Chase (Grenier), together with his boys, Eric (Connolly), Turtle (Ferrara) and Johnny (Dillon), are back in business with super agent turned studio head Ari Gold (Piven). Some of their ambitions have changed, but the bond between them remains strong as they navigate the exotic and often cutthroat world of Hollywood. The crew have overspent their budget for a film being directed and produced by Chase and Eric, and must now deal with the spoiled son of a millionaire who has invested in their film. The movie remains faithful to the legions of fans who enjoyed it for the better part of a decade. All of the behind the scenes looks at tinseltown are still there, but what lands this adaptation into failure territory is it’s overstuffed plot, and careless overexposure of pointless celebrity cameos. For the latter, i understand that in Hollywood there are celebrities everywhere, but the film features over 100 cameos (Not an exaggeration) with most of those being a quick one liner. Some work, but many make you wonder why the producers of the film even bothered. In fact, the film and it’s ongoing plot developments feel like they have been put on pause in favor of a-list eye candy. The lack of structure for certain scenes being put in the wrong order really makes the movie sloppy, and what should be a brief 99 minute film feels well over the two hour mark with storylines that grow and grow without ever garnering an ounce of closure on existing ones. The movie is definitely entertaining, so don’t get me wrong. Piven is absolutely the voice of reason with this group. His hilarious stress-induced outbursts are only topped by his parental feel on the boys he invests so much on. There is a nice father-sons kind of reflection by film’s end, and i would’ve liked to see more of the close unity that Ari attained during his years of back and forth with them. Dillon is also surprisingly responsible for some of the movie’s best lines. His style is rude, and a little too sleezeball for this critic’s tastes, but it’s necessary in a world like this. Dillon has the most acting experience of the four main protagonists, so it’s only appropriate that he plays the character who feels the brutal nature of Hollywood at it’s most vicious. If you liked the HBO show, you’re going to like what writer/director Doug Ellin puts on the big screen. It all feels like a collection of scenes that give our characters too many obstacles to juggle, and not enough time for the audience to stop and take in the chemistry of the group. If they weren’t so self centered, this movie would be appealing to a wider audience. As it stands, “Entourage” hits and misses on many chances. It’s shaky storytelling prohibits it from ever being anything more than a two hour continuation for the hardcore fans.