Starring: Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon, Jeremy Piven, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Haley Joel Osment, Perrey Reeves, Rex Lee, Debi Mazar, Rhys Coiro, Constance Zimmer, Ronda Rousey, Alan Dale, Scott Mescudi, Billy Bob Thornton, Emily Ratajkowski, and an ungodly amount of celebrity cameos.
Directed By: Doug Ellin

I was a really big fan of Entourage the TV series. I even enjoyed the show when others were saying it had lost its sparkle. The brotherhood between Vince, Drama, Turtle, and E kept me coming back for more. The supporting cast was pretty great too, and it’s awesome to see that (basically) everyone is back for the ride. After Entourage ended, the cast basically went nowhere. Kevin Connolly had a pilot this past season that didn’t get a series order, Jerry Ferrara’s most interesting role has been in the Think Like A Man series, Kevin Dillon’s last TV show was a disaster (How To Be A Gentleman), and Adrian Grenier’s Goodbye World didn’t really go anywhere. Hollywood has not been kind to our favorite foursome, which is why a movie around Entourage seems like a far fetched idea.

As a fan of the series, I enjoyed it. I’ve seen every episode, without needed an ounce of binge watching. That’s right. I was there from the beginning, to the end, with most viewings actually happening during the scheduled airtime. I’m old school like that. A few weeks ago I gave Mad Max an A- simply for failing to attempt at explaining the universe of Mad Max. I recognize that Entourage also fails to explain the world they live in, and it’s even a bigger foul than Max. Near the beginning of the film, Piers Morgan does a little segment on Vince, which could have been a great way to explain most of the Entourage TV series to the audience. It basically gave you only a brief intro into the bare necessities, leaving you to wonder what Medellin is, who Vince just broke up with, the entire evolution of Turtle as a character, and so on. I realize how incredibly misunderstood a character Billy Walsh must be to the viewing audience. He’s only really seen offering Molly to Drama. People new to the series probably see him only as a drug dealer. Shauna’s (Mazar) role isn’t really explained either. She just sort of pops up. Same with Dana (Zimmer) and Lloyd (Lee). This film does a really poor job of exposition, and works only as “The Lost Season” of Entourage.

I can’t imagine anyone truly getting to enjoy this film without having seen any of the show. It’s a lot of fun for those who are in the know, but it seems very inaccessible to those who aren’t. Even for those who are in the know, the movie seems to only serve as a way to fix the series ending of the show, and offer “an even better closure” to Vince’s story. But, sometimes we don’t really want things wrapped in a pretty bow. Sometimes, showing us that everything is rainbows and candy canes from here on out isn’t really what we need to see. I don’t want to see closure on these guys. I want to see where they are in 10 years, and maybe it’ll still be a struggle.

On a side note, Haley Joel Osment is absurdly entertaining as Travis McCredle. It’s a career reinventing role for him if enough people see it. He’s gone from being a punchline to really being someone who should be taken seriously again in Hollywood. Osment is back, and he’s probably the best thing about this film. It was good, it just wasn’t great. See it if you’re already a fan, skip it if you have no idea who these people are.

FINAL GRADE: B-