Entourage Movie Review

Entourage (2015)

Buy Entourage on Amazon
Written by: Doug Ellin (screenplay), Doug Ellin & Rob Weiss (story), Doug Ellin (based on characters by)
Directed by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon, Jeremy Piven
Rated: R

Plot
Vince, Eric, Turtle, and Johnny are back. Vince is a directing a movie, that's gone over budget, for studio head Ari Gold.

Verdict
If you've seen the series, you'll feel compelled to watch this. It's nice to get another entry into the Entourage universe, but this film feels like a stretched episode dressed up with a big budget. It's too much flash and not enough of what I loved about the show.
Skip it.

Review
The original series ran from 2004-2011. From the start the movie feels like the show with a bigger budget, maybe too big of a budget. It misses the focus the series had. Instead we get flash with more girls, locations, and backgrounds. This creates a disconnect, because it never quite looks like the show. Compared to the show, the cinematography is indulgent though it does feel like more of a movie.

The movie encompass a few episodes on the show, but we miss some of the smaller moments that delve into Hollywood. What I always liked about the show was the peek into the Hollywood machine. We get that, but it doesn't feels as honest. Even the dialog between the guys doesn't feel as natural. This movie is driving to a specific point, and doesn't have time to slow down. One of the few celebrity cameos is Mark Wahlberg. The movie could have done more with cameos.

While the movie comes four years after the show ended, it picking up not far after the series ended. Billy Bob Thornton and Haley Joel Osment play Texans funding the film Vince (Adrian Grenier) is directing. Vince needs more money, but the Texans don't want to invest more without seeing the product.

Everything I like about the movie was developed from watching the series. You have to have seen the series to even think about watching this, and that's the only reason you'd watch this anyway. I wish it had attempted a more stand alone story. I had heard this wasn't worth seeing, and while I had to see it because I liked the series, this is still just mediocre.

Entourage Season 6 TV Review

Entourage (2004-2011) 
Season 6 - 12 episodes (2009)
Buy Entourage Season 6 on Amazon
Watch Entourage on Amazon - Free HBO 30-day Trial to Prime Members 

Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season six isn't really about Vince. It's about Eric and Turtle's romantic relationships.

Entourage Season 8 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 8 - 8 Episodes (2011)

Entourage Season 8

Buy Entourage Season 8 on Amazon
Watch Entourage on Amazon - Free HBO 30-day Trial to Prime Members 
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

Plot: 
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season eight is all about relationships, Ari & wife, Eric & Sloan, and Vince & a reporter. If you thought this series was about Hollywood, this season attempts to disprove that, and the finale is disappointing.

Verdict
This was a disappointing season, especially since it was the final season. It focuses largely on relationships, abandoning the Hollywood backbone. The final episode forces happy endings on all the characters, in some cases apparently without prior planning..
You can't skip the final season of show, but it's a disappointing close to a series that has been much better. It's easily my least favorite season. Not only does it lack Hollywood, the guys aren't even hanging out together. This season could have been so much better.
Watch it.

Review
This is a disappointing season on the level of season 6 (read my review), but with a finale that felt completely forced. This season is more relationship drama. Eric and Sloan are at odds after apparently resolving their issues last season. It just feels lazy to milk their relationship drama. Why can't the show push that story forward or focus on Eric being a manager? Mirroring that story line, is Ari's wife wanting a divorce, unable to resolve her feelings about the tabloid stories from season 7.

Vince is out of rehab and ready to work., but his arc quickly becomes him chasing a female reporter. So much for getting back to work. The show decides to pair everyone off with a finale that has very little lead in, deciding to ram a happy endings down our throats.

This could have easily been remedied, and I'll detail exactly how at the end of this review.

Read my previous Entourage season reviews.

Vince has a script about trapped miner's he's developing and would like to direct, but everyone is handling him with kid gloves telling him it's great when it's not since he's fresh out of rehab. He's upset when he finds out.
The first episode has Turtle burn the house down for no explicable reason. If the show wanted to move them out of the house, have Vince justify it as wanting a fresh start and selling the house.

Vince and Turtle sell their tequila business stock when the owner forces Turtle out. Turtle's plan is to start a restaurant, but the people he chooses to plant the restaurant don't seem like business people. I wouldn't trust them to run a lemonade stand. They run around Hollywood with stars in their eyes. Of all the bad plot lines this season, this might have been the worst.

Vince re-imagines the movie as a network film for Johnny. Johnny is excited to get screen time, though his animated show Johnny's Bananas tests through the roof. Johnny's co-star Andrew Dice Clay talks him into quitting in a bid to get paid more when the show hasn't even aired. This ends up backfiring, which was easy to predict. Drama may lose out on his show and the movie.

Ari's wife has been dating Bobby Flay, which aggravates Ari to no end. I noticed the paintball gun from season 5 is hanging in his office. I assume it's been there a while, but this is the first time I noticed it. This is also the first time I've heard his wife called by name, Melissa.

Carl Ertz gets another chance from Vince, with Vince explaining he feels like he has to support another addict. Ertz has selfish intentions yet again. In another over the top scenario, Ertz kills himself in episode three with Vince and Turtle in the house.

Vince (Adrian Grenier) chasing Sophia (Alice Eve).

Vince has to pass a drug test which has it's own complications, but Billy Walsh helps him. Vince wants to resume work on the miner movie and Airwalker from last season. Vince's plans are derailed for the rest of the season when he is smitten with a Vanity Fair reporter, Sophia played by Alice Eve. That's the end of anything film related for Vince and it's only episode five.

Eric teams up with Sloan's ex-stepmother to stop Sloan dating Johnnie Galecki.

Eric gets involved with Sloan's ex-stepmother and then gets jealous when Sloan starts dating his client Johnnie Galecki. Episode seven is just manipulative, with Sloan now pregnant. That's the best they could come up with?

Turtle's arc works out a little too neat. He sold his stock from the tequila business before it went public, costing him millions. Vince saves the day having kept his stock and buying Turtle's, giving Turtle the proceeds. At least this story was planned out from the start.

All the characters happily ride off into the sunset.

In the finale episode Vince wants to get married to Sophia after one night. Eric quits his job and will chase Sloan to New York. Ari realizes he's a horrible husband and father and quits.
Ari and Ms. Ari reconcile, as do Eric and Sloan. Everyone will fly to Paris to watch Vince get married. In a scene after the credits, Ari is offered the job of CEO at Warner Bros.

How should this season have unfolded? Vince pushes to direct his miner movie. With it being a network film, he has a better shot but it's not easy by any means. Have him meet Sophia but just start dating her. Even she wouldn't agree to marry him after one day. Directing could be a new career path and the show could hint that he and Sophia have a real relationship.

Eric and Sloan shouldn't have broken up between season seven and eight. Using a baby to force them together is cheap. Have Sloan get pregnant, forcing Eric to re-evaluate his work life balance. He could have chosen a less demanding job.

Johnny's arc works out fine. He gets to be a middling actor which is perfect. Have Turtle open the restaurant and struggle to make it work. Ari should realize his mistakes and accept them. The Warner brothers offer undoes him quitting anyway. Him getting that job should be his reward for being a terrible husband and father. Don't reconcile his relationship just to have him screw it up again.
The show could have at least given Lloyd a promotion.

The finale should be open ended, but hint that each of them has a distinct future that will be separate from each other. In their own way, each of them would have grown up with my arcs. Instead the finale throws everything together with no forethought or planning. It's like the show was cut from twelve episodes to eight half way through and the writers didn't care to fix it.

Entourage Season 7 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 7 - 10 Episodes (2010)

Entourage Season 7

Buy Entourage Season 7 on Amazon
Watch Entourage on Amazon - Free HBO 30-day Trial to Prime Members 
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

Plot: 
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season seven is the downfall. A car stunt lead to painkillers which leads to harder drugs and Vince losing control.

Verdict
This season depicts the hazards of the movie industry. We slowly watch as Vince spirals out of control, lying to his friends, becoming more erratic, and missing out on a movie role. By the end of the season he's hit a low point.
It's a sad season as Vince may become another Hollywood horror story.
Johnny, Ari, and Turtle are on the verge of losing everything for which they've worked in their own story arcs.
Watch it.

Review

The season is the downfall of Vince. We feel bad as he slowly loses everything, becoming unreliable and erratic.
Entourage is a fascinating look at the character of Vince. When this series started he seemed completely confidant, but we've seen that he's more vulnerable than he lets on. He doesn't take bad reviews well, instead hiding. He avoids confrontation.
His entourage that seemed like leeches at first, insulate him from the world. He may need them more than they need him.
This season shows just how easily he's influenced. Being a movie star, he's by default a dominant personality, but when you take away the fame, he's a pushover. In season 4 Dennis Hopper was able to coax him into betting on a soccer game even when he had no money. A director and a girlfriend are able to push him into bad decisions quite easily this season.

Read my previous Entourage season reviews.

At the end of season 6, Vince was off to begin filming the Ferrari movie. At the start of season 7, that movie is about to release and he's busy filming a Nick Cassavetes movie.
Eric is planning a wedding with Sloan, Turtle is running a car service business, and Johnny Drama is still waiting on his holding deal.

Vince survives the crash.

Cassavetes pushes Vince to do his own stunts in the movie. Vince doesn't want to, but is coerced into it. Eric and Ari both try to get him out of it to no avail. Vince is afraid to defy Cassavetes.
I just don't see a studio letting their star do a stunt, especially without any training. He doesn't even practice.

Vince got a motorcycle.

Vince pulls off the stunt, and while the car's brakes fail, he walks away relatively unscathed. He's on pain medication and decides to cut his own hair which ruins planned reshoots for his movie.
 When he begins talking about his mortality, jumping out of planes, and riding a motorcycle, his friends begin worrying.
That's only amplified when he says the Cassavetes movie might suck while doing an interview for the Ferrari movie.

Vince gets close with Eric's rival Scott. Scott strokes Vince's ego and tells him yes. Scott isn't worried about Vince's behavior, he's looking for a good time. His friends are telling him to slow down, and Vince isn't about to do that.
Vince has also started dating porn star Sasha Gray. She is portrayed as much more intellectual and cultured than Vince, but she parties hard and Vince is struggling to keep up.

Ari loses a bid to negotiate television rights for the NFL, but Jerry Jones says he'd like to see a football team in Los Angeles and Ari might be the guy to make that happen. I never saw this arc coming to fruition, but I wondered if Jerry Jones told him that just to pacify him.

Lizzie and Ari.

Ari used Lizzie (Autumn Reecer) to help land the deal and she tries to pivot that and her leadership in the TV department into a promotion. Ari refuses, and Lizzie quits and sues him for sexual harassment. The bad press puts a stop to Ari's NFL dreams, though we all knew something was going to block that.

Ari's home life isn't faring well either when the content of the sexual harassment suit is leaked. His wife is dismayed at his behavior and wants to separate.

Turtle's car business is crumbling. He has no money and has to give it up. Even this was a venture partially funded by Vince. Turtle is trying to get out of that shadow, but not having any luck. He jumps into a tequila distribution deal that has great projects, attracting interest from Mark Cuban, but Turtle is constrained by the owner.

Johnny Drama and John Stamos.

Drama is nervous because his holding deal has almost run out and he doesn't have a show. He warms to the idea of a sitcom, but alienates his potential co-star John Stamos. Stamos is an obsessive ping pong player, and Drama crushes him, potentially ruining the potential of the sitcom.

Billy Walsh presenting Johnny with the Johnny Bananas sketch.

The one person most likely to lead Vince down a self destructive path would have been Billy Walsh who has cleaned up his act, is sober, and an ordained minister. He wants to get back to directing.
Billy Walsh comes up with an animated show for Drama, Johnny's Bananas, but Drama doesn't want to deprive the world of his face. He finally agrees when he realizes he has no other prospects.
Vince almost ruins his chance at a new super hero movie, Airwalker. He brings Sasha to a meeting with Stan Lee, which doesn't go over well because he's also hung over. When he attends a meeting with the director on coke, he's outed but denies it, lying to Eric who vouches for him.
The studio wants a drug test and Vince refuses.

Vince says no to an intervention.

The end of Vince and Sasha's relationship is imminent when Vince wants her to stop doing porn. He offers to pay her or get her a role in his movie, now directed by Peter Berg.
She refuses and Vince attends a photo session while wasted, demanding she quit. That's the final straw in their relationship as Vince flies off the handle. An intervention attempt by Drama only upsets Vince more.

Vince ends the season by getting into a fight with Eminem and losing. Vince ends up in the hospital, blaming everyone but himself, with the cops asking him where he got the coke.

Entourage Season 5 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 5 - 12 Episodes (2008)

Buy Entourage Season 5 on Amazon
Watch Entourage on Amazon - Free HBO 30-day Trial to Prime Members 

Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season five has Vince trying to overcome the disaster that was Medellin. In Hollywood one good movie makes you a star, and one bad one makes you a pariah.

Entourage Season 6 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 6 - 12 Episodes (2009)

Entourage Season 6

Buy Entourage Season 6 on Amazon
Watch Entourage on Amazon - Free HBO 30-day Trial to Prime Members 
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

Plot: 
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season six isn't really about Vince. It's about Eric and Turtle's romantic relationships.

Verdict
This season is easily my least favorite. It ignores the Hollywood setting and instead provides crazy capers and a focus on relationships. Halfway in I thought, "This show had a good run." This season feels like they ran out of ideas or just decided to wing it. The final episode felt like a conclusion to the entire show.
What have been side stories in previous seasons become main plots this season, and Vince is just a side character.
Season 7 is better, and once you're five seasons in, it's hard to put down a show that's been so good. This season isn't outright bad, but it's always been a combination of friends hanging out against the movie industry. This season lacks the movie industry.
Watch it.

Review
This season is about everybody but Vince. The film industry setting is ignored focusing on Eric's pining for Sloan, Turtles relationship with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Ari's problems with an agent's infidelities.
This isn't a bad season, but it lacks the backbone of the setting and an end goal for this season. The closest link to Hollywood are the celebrities we see in Ari's office or at Eric's new job with Murray. The characters and the setting are integral, and I wanted more insight into Hollywood.

I wondered if this season marked the descent of the show. While season 7 is better, I haven't seen 8, and it seems the glory days may have passed.
Vince and Turtle's gun plot line felt like something from Always Sunny in Philadelphia. What made this show unique as far as plotting and setting is missing this season. The final episode felt like the series finale with the way it wrapped everything up.

Read my previous Entourage season reviews.

The three main plots lines this season are Turtle dating Jamie-Lynn Sigler still, Eric infatuated with Sloan while dating Ashley (what could go wrong with that), and Ari's home and work becoming difficult due to employee Andy's affair.

Vince at The Great Gatsby premiere.

Vince has bought his first house back as a pseudo reboot and he's finally taking a driving test since he's doing a movie about Enzo Ferrari. That gets pushed back which gives Vince very little to do this season. The first episode skips right past The Great Gatsby movie from the final episode of season five, starting just before the premiere.

Eric and Sloan.

Eric is awkwardly juggling multiple girlfriends, but asks Sloan to the Gatsby premiere which ignites all of his old feelings. He continues dating Ashley, but is keeping Sloan on the back burner.
Sloan puts Eric up for a job at her godfather's agency, which irritates Eric and he then calls Ashley Sloan. Oops.
He loses Ashley by lying about Sloan. The love triangle is played for maximum drama, as Eric's decision on which girl wavers.

Turtle gets a lot of press with Jamie-Lynn on his arm at the premiere. When Jamie-Lynn and Vince get him a Porsche and a Ferrari for his birthday, Turtle decides to go back to school, self conscious that he's just a mooch.

Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Drama, Vince Chase, Tom Brady.

At a celebrity golf tournament in episode five, Ari is stuck with Jeffrey Tambor, who is amazing. He subtlety cheats to impress his disinterested children, aggravating Ari.
Mark Wahlberg and Tom Brady are paired with Vince and Drama, though Tom Brady turns Turtle from Giants loving enemy into a fan. Wahlberg is great as he picks at Drama.

Drama may cost himself his Five Towns job by trying to protect Turtle's girlfriend Jamie-Lynn from a studio exec. Drama is often comic relief, but he is loyal to a fault. He attacks the studio exec, but they aren't going to fire him, they plan to torture him.

Ari gets Drama out of Five Towns, but he fumbles a Melrose audition. Drama considers his future as an actor, again.

Bob Saget's cameo is amazing. You have to see it in episode seven. Eric takes the job at Murray's firm, but he isn't meshing with his coworkers. Scott (Scott Caan) is set up as his rival. Eric is trying to be a team player and help land Saget, but Scott tells him to back off, until he drops Eric's name to further his own agenda.

Turtle and Vince get a gun.

When Vince's underwear is stolen, he and Turtle get a gun. It's such a silly arc that feels out of place in this show. It's just a few shades too over the top, and it leads to nothing. Where is the Ferrari movie?

Ari's been dealing with an employee and friend, Andy, whose affair leads to a total meltdown, landing Andy in jail. Ari and Aaron Sorkin visit Andy in jail where Sorkin agrees to sign with the firm. It's just a bit hard to buy. While Hollywood can be a crazy place this season more than any other broke the illusion of what I could credibly believe.
Ari has a chance to buy his old firm. He wrestles with the decision before finally agreeing, going to the old firm and firing employees by marking them with paint balls.

Turtle and Jamie-Lynn.

The last couple episodes felt like a conclusion to the show. Turtle chase Jamie-Lynn to New Zealand, who broke up with him "for him." Eric gets engaged to Sloan, and Vince gets "Jason Bourned" by Matt Damon, agreeing to contribute a large sum of money to charity. Drama has a studio that wants to develop a show around him.

Entourage has always been about movies, but provided insight into television through Johnny.  This season lacked that insight. There are plenty of shows about friends and their relationships, and the Hollywood setting made this unique. This season could almost be set anywhere.

Entourage Season 4 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 4 - 12 Episodes (2007)

Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.
Season 4 looks at what happens after Vince's movie Medellin wraps, but before it's sold to a studio. Eric trys to become a legitimate talent manager. Vince's next project with the dream team from Medellin has problems.

Entourage Season 5 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 5 - 12 Episodes (2008)

Entourage Season 5

Buy Entourage Season 5 on Amazon
Watch Entourage on Amazon - Free HBO 30-day Trial to Prime Members 
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

Plot: 
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season five has Vince trying to overcome the disaster that was Medellin. In Hollywood one good movie makes you a star, and one bad one makes you a pariah.

Verdict
This season is much darker. Vince's ride of success has hit a telephone pole called Medellin. After that flop he has no job offers.
While I've wondered if Vince can act, this season begins to answer that. He can't, but when you're the 'it' guy that's okay. Now that he isn't linked to a blockbuster film, he gets fired from a movie.
This season still nails the cameos and chemistry, but it looks at the cycle of Hollywood failure.
Watch it.

Review
I love the insight into Hollywood that's built around a tight knit group of friends. Each season seems to focus on a different aspect of the business, slowing widening that focus and providing a complete picture of Hollywood. We've seen success and a comic book movie, the indie film route and passion projects, now it's the failure. Vince has been incredibly fortunate, but now he's vulnerable. One movie can make or break a career. Vince's success and failure directly affects Eric, Johnny, and Turtle.

I've always wondered if Vince is a good actor. He did well in Queens Boulevard, but this season seems to reveal that Vince, much like Adrian Grenier, just looks the part.

Read my previous Entourage season reviews.

Vince looks happy, but he's not.

Vince is hiding out in Mexico as bad reviews for Medellin are still rolling in. Vince's passion project is a straight to DVD release. Vince claims he's okay, but he's hiding out and trying to avoid the reviews and press. He needs to start playing the Hollywood game and act like a movie star.

Eric's managing business now has more than just one client. He's found another indie script, 9 Brave Souls. Eric thinks it's good, but Ari doesn't want another indie flop. When Ari wants to turn it into a studio movie with Vince as the lead, the writers up their price.

Vince wrestles with whether he should settle for a kids movie just for the money or keep chasing Smoke Jumpers, re-titled from 9 Brave Souls.
He decides to pursue Smoke Jumpers, despite it being out of reach, after a weekend with actor Eric Roberts. In episode five, Roberts takes the guys and Ari on a mushroom trip in a national park. The cameos are great. Mark Wahlberg is golfing with Ari in episode two. The cameos are always quick, but help to reinforce this is Hollywood and that you would see movie stars as you're walking down the street.

Johnny Drama is still riding the success of Five Towns. He has an online girlfriend, the one he met at Cannes last season, but that goes south and he manages to embarrass himself on The View.

Vince playing a role on Smoke Jumpers.

This season is Vince falling further down. He's chasing Smoke Jumpers, and when he finally gets a role, Werner Herzog fires him in the middle of production. Herzog and Jason Patric have great cameos. Vince's issue is that Patric is stealing all of his lines, but he's too scared of Patric to bring it up. It turns out Herzog was giving Vince's lines away. He never wanted Vince and finds a way to remove him, insisting that Vince isn't getting a scene right despite many takes.

Vince is losing it. He was at the top with Aquaman, but as it happens in Hollywood, one bad role can quickly devastate a career. Vince didn't want to just take a paycheck for studio films, and that hurt him. This is a much darker season. You feel bad for Vince as you realize his air of confidence is often just a show. Once that bubble gets pierced he's not that laid  back. His friends help maintain that bubble. You can tell Vince likes having them close. They help insulate him from the world.

Turtle and Jamie-Lynn.

The most surprising arc this season is the relationship Turtle starts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler from The Sopranos. While the guys don't believe his boasting at first,which gets back to her, their relationship doesn't end.

Vince lashes out at Eric when Gus Van Sant doesn't even want to see Vince audition.  Vince blames Eric, but Eric has been trying everything to get Vince a job. Vince is desperate, heading back home broke.

In the final episode, Eric's attempts prove successful. Van Sant sent Vince's film reel to Martin Scorsese. Socrses swoops in and offers Vince the lead in his remake of The Great Gatsby, saving the day and Vince's ego.

Entourage Season 3 Part 2 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 3 Part 2 - 8 Episodes (2007)

Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season three is split into two parts. Part one comprises twelve episodes and part two eight.
In part 2 of season 3, Vince has a new agent and is looking for a new project, but his passion project Medellín might reappear.

Entourage Season 4 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 4 - 12 Episodes (2007)

Entourage Season 4

Buy Entourage Season 4
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

Plot: 
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.
Season 4 looks at what happens after Vince's movie Medellin wraps, but before it's sold to a studio. Eric trys to become a legitimate talent manager. Vince's next project with the dream team from Medellin has problems.

Verdict
Entourage is just a fun show. I like that each season expands the scope of Hollywood. This season we get to see what happens before a movie hits the theaters, and that's what I want, an insight into the Hollywood machine. We see the city through the viewpoint of a movie and television star, as well as a director, agent, and manager.
This season does have a couple of filler episodes that don't propel Vince or his career, but the characters easily carry those episodes. This season finally figure out exactly how to handle Ari, a complaint I've had about past seasons.
Watch it.

Review
This season was great. It finally figured out exactly what to do with Ari while still expanding the world of Hollywood. While this show is very much guys hanging out, it provides a look at how Hollywood runs. We get to see Vince on the Medellin movie set and Johnny on the Five Towns television set. We get to see the struggles of an established agent and a manager just starting out.

Read my previous Entourage season reviews.

I like that the season opens with a documentary following the Medellin production. We've yet to see what actually happens on a movie set with both Queens Boulevard and Aquaman happening off screen. The documentary is inter cut with interviews from Vince, Ari, and Eric. The faux documentary lasts just the first episode. I was afraid they would try to make the whole season in that style which would be a mistake. This shows us a production in just one episode, not trying to drag it out.

Episode 1 - Vince as Pablo Escobar.

We also see that Eric is a good producer, Director Billy Walsh is still over the top and overbearing, but he makes good movies and that is enough. Vince dons a fat suit to look more like Escobar.

The production stumbles when Walsh decides the ending isn't right while also jealous of attention an extra gets from Vince.

Vince has finally made his passion project, but no offers will come until the world sees Medellin. Choice roles don't go to actors that star in flops, and right now no one knows what Medellin will be. Prospects don't look good when Walsh runs away with the final cut instead of showing it to Vince and Eric. When they finally  see it, Vince likes it but Eric doesn't.

Episode 2 - Medellin first screening.

Walsh submits the movie to the Cannes film festival without telling anyone, but Eric's anger is abated when it's accepted.
Ari uses the buzz around Medellin to sell the dream team of Vince, Eric, and Walsh on Clouds a movie about scaling a mountain. The only issue is that Eric hates Walsh and has decided to never work with him again.
Walsh turns Clouds into a script about farming in the future, Silo. Ari works his magic when Walsh doesn't deliver what he promised, turning this new script into another movie for the dream team.

Episode 12 - The Cannes premiere of Medellin.

A short lived bidding war starts over Medellin before Cannes, but that ends when the movie is actually seen. It bombs, hard.

Episode 10 - Eric's new client Anna Faris.

Eric has decided to expand his career and become a legitimate talent manager, finding a run down office for his base of operations. Of course Vince upgrades the office. Eric gets a second client when Anna Faris runs into him, in a car accident. While I wasn't surprised when she gave him the wrong phone number, it turns out it was an accident. Eric's insight lands him another client, but he soon realizes not all clients are as easy as Vince.
Vince distances himself from Eric, but realizes how much he needs them. Vince often comes across nonchalant, but we get glimpses of how parts of his easy life are specifically constructed. This entourage is part of an ego thing for him, shielding him from parts of the world. It's mutually beneficial for him and his boys, but it's not him giving them a free hand out. They each play certain roles in his life.

This season has a few subplots with Ari, and I liked them. I've complained about Ari's screen time, but it wasn't Ari. It was how the show used him. Ari's scenes need to be comically ridiculous, showcasing just how silly Hollywood can be. Season 2 and parts of 3 made his arcs too serious. In this season he tries to get his son into a private school and also loses an M. Night Shyamalan script. This season figured out exactly how to handle him. Ari is obviously out for himself, but that can in turn benefit others like when he helps his assistant Lloyd get his boyfriend back. It's a nice gesture on the surface, but Ari just doesn't want a new assistant. We also see how jealous Ari can be when his wife returns to acting.

It's also nice to see Johnny Drama enjoying the success of his hit television show Five Towns. He has his own condo, which he cares for meticulously.
He tries to get his address annexed into the 90210 zip code for the Beverly Hills amenities. Stephen Tobolowsky plays the awkward mayor that Johnny invites to the party to woo, but the mayor's political standing hits a snag.

This season, as usual, has great cameos with Anthony Michael Hall and Dennis Hopper. The show uses these to great effect, surprising us with what Hall could really be like and proving that while we didn't expect Hopper was a soccer fanatic, he's exactly like we hoped he'd be.
Gary Busey shows up again, wanting to paint on Johnny. Kanye West lends a plane when the guys are in need.

Episode 10- Ari works magic and gets Silo greenlit.

At the same time, it's incredible how easy life is for Vince. You can't help but think that's the life of a movie star. They seem to get whatever they want and party with whomever they want.

Entourage Season 3 Part 1 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 3 Part 1 - 12 Episodes (2006)

Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.
Season three is split into two parts. Part one comprises twelve episodes and part two eight.
In part one of season three Vince rides the success of Aquaman, though it doesn't provide the freedom he anticipated.

Entourage Season 3 Part 2 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 3 Part 2 - 8 Episodes (2007)

Entourage Season 3 Part 2

Buy Entourage Season 3 Part 2
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

Plot: 
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Season three is split into two parts. Part one comprises twelve episodes and part two eight.
In part 2 of season 3, Vince has a new agent and is looking for a new project, but his passion project Medellín might reappear.

Verdict
While I thought Part 1 was a slight step down from Season 2, Part 2 is prime Entourage. This is a show that makes me believe it's a real window into Hollywood and this half season does a great job of that. Medellin is the driving force as Vince, Eric, and Ari struggle to make the film a reality.
While I thought Part 1 had too much Ari, Part 2 helped me realize it wasn't too much, it was just the wrong Ari. He should be over the top in all of his scenes, Part 2 succeeds where Part 1 failed.
This might be my favorite season yet. While the celebrity cameos were more tame, the core story was great, sustaining the half season.
Watch it.

Review
This season's drive was Medellin. While it still feels like a guys hanging out show, that arc provided purpose that kept the season moving, while still very much feeling like the Hollywood fantasy land I've constructed in my mind. The guys still take every opportunity to make fun of each other, and it feels authentic.
This season does a better job of utilizing Ari, while widening the scope of the show and providing a look at producing a film.

Read my previous Entourage season reviews.

Episode 8 - Say goodbye to the mansion.

Professional relationships can mirror personal relationships, and Ari (Jeremy Piven) is feeling like a jilted lover now that Vince (Adrian Grenier) has a new agent, Amanda (Carla Gugino). Ari's personal and professional life is suffering, and Ari hopes he can lure Vince back with the promise of Medellin.

Episode 3 - Ari misses Vince.

This complicates the movie Amanda found Vince, Glimpses. Adding to the complication, Vince and Amanda start a fling. I knew that Amanda was temporary, because there is no way the show would throw away the amazing character they have in Ari. As soon as the fling started, it was the writing on the wall that Amanda's days were numbered. Vince's women never stick around very long.

Episode 4 - Vince really likes his agent... really likes her.

Johnny Drama delivers the comedy when he ends up on Pauly Shore's hidden camera show.
In the early episodes, we're still seeing a bit too much of the wrong Ari. If he's not over top in a scene, the scene should be cut. If it's not about Vince, it's not a salient detail to the plot line. At this point in the season, I still thought he was a great side character that got promoted to take advantage of the fandom, but by season end, the show figured out how to use him.

Episode five has Ari and producer Nick (Adam Goldberg) trying to get a sign off for Vince on Medellin. This is the Hollywood shenanigan I want to see, Ari and Nick interrupting a service on Yom Kippur to make movies happen. They can't use phones on the holiday, which makes closing the deal difficult.
Ari loses Medellin, and this sets up an Ari versus Amanda plot line. Vince thinks she wanted him to lose the deal because she didn't find it and doesn't like Ari. Vince knows Ari wouldn't have let the movie slip away if he was still his agent, and Amanda cuts Vince loose since he's still hung up on Ari. I figured Vince would let go of her, but his continued fling with her had removed his objectivity. I liked Amanda, she feels like the driven agent in it for the money trope that is a counter to what Ari has become. She seems like a character we'll see again in the wide world of Entourage.

Ari lands a deal to get Medellin, but the catch is that Vince has to do Matterhorn first. Vince decides he's waited long enough for his dream project, and he sells his mansion to buy the Medellin script for five million to do the film his way. Eric puts what he has into the movie as well. They will co-produce.

Episode 6 - The guys try to cheer up drama with a car.

Johnny's show from Part 1, Five Town is a critical flop which crushes Johnny. The guys fix up his old car, a Lincoln Continental to cheer him up. When the show premieres it's a ratings hit. Drama is a star once again. With that and the sale of the mansion, Drama gets his own condo.

Vince, Eric, and Ari meet with an investor. Vince can't figure out if the wife is in to him, and either way could be good or bad.

Episode 8 - Medellin is a go.

Vince and the boys leave the mansion and Billy Walsh from Queens Boulevard is brought on to direct. Eric juggles an egotistical director, Nick the investor, and Ari, but he gets it done.

Entourage Season 2 TV Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 2 - 14 episodes (2005)

Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA

HBO's original comedy/satire features movie star Vince Chase as he navigates stardom with his agent and group of friends.

Entourage Season 3 Part 1 Review

Entourage (2004-2011)
Season 3 Part 1 - 12 Episodes (2006)

Entourage Season 3 Part 1

Buy Entourage Season 3 Part 1
Created by: Doug Ellin
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven
Rating: TV-MA 

Plot
Movie star Vince Chase navigates the road to stardom with his agent and group of friends.
Season three is split into two parts. Part one comprises twelve episodes and part two eight.
In part one of season three Vince rides the success of Aquaman, though it doesn't provide the freedom he anticipated.

Verdict
I like the second season just slightly more than the third. This season was listless by design as Vince tries to find his next project while enjoying the success of Aquaman.
The satire and celebrity cameos are still solid. It's a lot of fun to watch, though this season had  a bit too much Ari.
This seasons does a great job of developing Vince. The camaraderie seems effortless, and at it's core this is a window into a group of friends that we get to hang out with thirty minutes at a time. It just so happens that one is a movie star.
Watch it.

Review
Read my previous Entourage reviews.

This is a solid season, though I like season two more (read my review). While season two was finding the movie and signing on, this season is finding the next project. Season three didn't have the same focus, but part of the movie star life is waiting in limbo and and failing to secure the next project.
This season did focus a bit too much on Ari. While he's a great character, it's a situation where less is more. The problem may lie in what we saw of Ari. We see too much of his agency's woes. This doesn't add anything to the story which is the struggles of an actor. This isn't a show about an agent, at least not directly.

Vince moves from the success of Aquaman to pursuing his passion project Medellin. Unfortunately that conflicts with Vince's obligation to Aquaman 2.  Trying to pursue both lands Vince neither. While the sequel would have been his biggest paycheck yet, it's not about the money. Towards the end of the season, Eric discovers a new project, but that too may slip out of their grasp.

The boys and their mothers.

In episode one, Vince takes his mom to the premiere of Aquaman. It may topple Spiderman for the biggest opening weekend. I wondered if we'd get to see a clip of it. We do, though it's brief. In what has to be a clever joke, a blackout ends the clip we're seeing prematurely. While this show tells me Vince is a great actor, I've never actually seen that. The rolling blackouts could decrease the expected box office earnings. James Woods has a terrific cameo, vying for tickets to the film.

This season more than the previous shows how kind Vince is. He goes out of his way to reward his friends and share his success with them, though he expresses his thanks primarily through financial rewards. It also could be his way of maintaining the security blanket his friends create. Vince doesn't have to do much, and with his live in staff, they're happy to do whatever he needs at the promise of Ducati motorcycles.

Not everyone is smiling when Dom returns.

In episode three Vince's old buddy Dom is back in town. Everyone but Vince is ready to get rid of him, until Vince too realizes Dom is a hindrance, despite Dom helping Vince land Medellin.

Turtle briefly is a music manager.

Vince wants to push Aquaman 2 back so he can work on Medellin with Paul Haggis. He meets resistance and becomes even less interested in Aquaman when he learns James Cameron isn't returning, instead replaced by Michael Bay. The studio puts a halt to the Pablo Escobar biopic and Vince demands twenty million, thinking he can't be replaced. He can, and the studio opts for Jake Gyllenhaal instead. In case of fiction meets reality, four years later Gyllenhaal would do Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010).

In another instance of mocking Hollywood execs, Vince's film Queens Boulevard gets picked up for a wide release but the studio changes it from black and white to heavily saturated. Neither the director nor Vince will stand for that.

Turtle becomes a music manager, and while he gets paid his job doesn't last long.

This season focuses more on Ari. At first he's renting office space as now he runs his own agency. He wants to open the largest agency in town, but has to take on a partner he doesn't want. This arc was never relevant to the show. Sure, it' the lead in to Vince and Eric wondering if they need a new agent, but it felt like a promoted side character that shouldn't have been promoted. Ari is unresponsive and yet we see more of him this season than in previous seasons. I like Ari, I just don't care about how he runs his business.

Ari, Eric, and Bob

Continuing their animosity, Ari shutters Eric off on retired music producer Bob. Eric can't escape Bob's house, but finds Vince's next project, a biopic about The Ramones. Bob and Ari fight over who the lead producer role, which puts the entire project in jeopardy.
Eric and Vince talk to other agents as Ari's been unresponsive since opening his new office. The season ends on a bit of a cliff hanger.