Newcomers upstage regulars on big screen
Entourage is the uninvited dinner guest who then insists on sticking around long after the party’s over.
The film is based on the amusing inside-Hollywood HBO series about a rising star who keeps his childhood posse around as his bubble, protecting him from the sharks, clingers, wannabes and hangers-on who populate the movie business.
The series ended in 2011, and, to my knowledge, no one thought it required any additional wrap-up.
But that’s just what the movie, inspired by producer Mark Wahlberg’s experience in show business, does: It wraps up things we thought had already been tied up in the series with a nice, dull bow.
But the story isn’t over, and star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) recovers from his divorce by deciding that what he really wants to do is direct and star in a futuristic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to be titled Hyde.
It will be a new challenge for him — and a big break for his failure of an older half brother, “Johnny Drama” (Kevin Dillon), to whom he’ll give a juicy supporting role.
But his personal manager, childhood pal “E” (Kevin Connolly), is too distracted to ensure that the project gets off the ground, as his ex-girlfriend Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) is pregnant. Now a powerful player in Los Angeles, E is a magnet for the women whom he and his group of friends pursue with a still-sophomoric vigor.
It’s up to Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), the super-agent with anger issues, to come out of retirement and take over a studio to greenlight Hyde.
If only he can keep the Texas financier (Billy Bob Thornton) who owns a chunk of the picture out of the way.
The Texan’s skirt-chasing “I know the movie business” son is played with redneck-savant glee by Haley Joel Osment.
These two finally make the still-twitchy but supposedly mellowed Ari return to his former state of rage.
But it’s the newcomers who steal the movie.
Osment and Thornton are a hoot, but Connolly, Dillon, Grenier and Jerry Ferrara aren’t. They’re playing older versions of the same shallow hounds they always were.
Directed by Doug Ellin.
R (for pervasive language, strong sexual content, nudity, drug use)
1:44
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Turtle (Ferrara), originally just the chubby driver for this crew, has made his own fortune and lost weight — but still drives them around and still endures jokes about his weight.
Turtle’s attempted courtship of mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey, playing herself, shows Rousey’s screen presence and charisma.
As with the series, writerdirector Doug Ellin peppers the film with funny cameos — cranky Jessica Alba; a raging Kelsey Grammer storming out of therapy as Ari arrives for his session; Liam Neeson flipping off Ari in traffic; a pleading David Spade; and many musicians, disc jockeys, athletes and actual moguls.
Piven was the lone breakout star from the series, and the movie never gets going until his rage fully returns.
But Entourage is a movie that even Ari Gold can’t rescue for his clients.