MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Entourage’ Is A Fitting Finale For HBO’s Bros

Film: Entourage
Starring: Adrien Grenier, Jeremy Piven
Directed by: Doug Ellin

The boys are back, and they’re picking up right where they left off.

Several years may have passed since the world said goodbye to Vince, E, Drama, Turtle, and Ari, but in the world of Entourage it has only been a few short months. Like the time jump that occurred between each of the show’s eight seasons, the jump between the series finale and the beginning of Doug Ellin’s long-awaited big screen continuation is only long enough for a new set of circumstances to arise. Vince is no longer married, Turtle is now the richest of the group, E is about to be a father, Drama has a promising role in Vince’s next project, and Ari is the head of the biggest studio in town. Even better, he’s giving Vince his first big-budget blockbuster, and in the world of Entourage that is all we need for a new chapter to begin.

Though Ellin makes room early in the film to retrace the basic back story of every character for those unfamiliar with the popular HBO series of the same name, the film version of Entourage is a feature very much created for longtime fans of the show. Everyone is back, and I quite literally mean everyone – even cousin Ronnie! Their places in life, as well as their general demeanors have not changed in the slightest (as very little time has passed for the fictional universe in which they exist), so everything feels very much like the start, middle, and end to the ninth season that never was. This is both good and bad, because it provides a fitting and somewhat obvious conclusion for the series, but in doing so the film does not necessarily deliver a story worthy of cinematic projection. It’s exactly what you saw on TV, albeit shot slightly better, so it stands to reason it could have just as easily been released directly to HBO subscribers.

All that aside, if you’re a fan of the series as I am then you will be in love with nearly every frame of the Doug Ellin written and directed feature-length adventure. With a runtime just shy of two hours, the film is about as long as a 5-episode marathon, and the events on screen play out as they would in that setting. The question of whether or not our leads will succeed in their quest to further their comfort level in life is rarely a concern, but the same could easily have been said about several seasons of the show. There was always conflict present, but the heart of the series has always been in the relationships of the characters on screen. I doubt anyone involved in the top billed cast outside of Piven will ever be nominated for an Oscar, but everyone involved in this project knows their role and they play it well. It may not be a challenge for them to do so at this point, but again – fans won’t care.

Reviewing a film like Entourage poses a bit of a problem for me as I cannot possibly imagine viewing the film through the eye’s of someone unfamiliar with the show and its characters. I simply cannot speak to the experience of those walking in blind, but I can say without a doubt in my mind that anyone who loved the show will at the very least enjoy the Entourage movie. It’s not a perfect specimen of modern cinema, but it fittingly continues a long tradition of debauchery and brotherhood as only this cast of fictional Queens natives could deliver. It’s fun and short, with plenty of eye candy to look at along the way. Don’t think too much and you’ll have a good time.

GRADE: B

Review written by: James Shotwell

James Shotwell
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