Review - Entourage (2004-2011)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Before streaming platforms like Netflix started created top tier content like The Witcher, Stranger Things, One Piece, and House of Cards, the premiere place for premium television content was HBO, who made it big with such series as The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos, and my personal favorite Entourage. 

        Created by Doug Ellin, Entourage ran on HBO from 2004 through 2011, lasting for eight seasons on television. The main stars of the series would be Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon, and Jeremy Piven, with additional cast members including Debi Mazar, Perrey Reeves, and Rex Lee. But, while these were our series leads, Entourage was particularly famous for hosting a who's who of celebrity guest talent, which we'll get into as the review goes on. 

         So, Entourage is centered on the rollercoaster acting career of Vincent Chase, who has his latest film Head On with Jessica Alba preparing for release during the debut episode. Along with Vince is his best friend/manager Eric "E" Murphy, good friend and driver Sal "Turtle" Assante, and older brother Johnny "Drama" Chase, who is also a struggling actor. And, of course, there's arguably the most remembered character in the series: Ari Gold. Ari is Vince's talent agent, and is remembered for three things: his cutthroat attitude, his vulgar language, and his unwaivering bigotry. Seriously, the man is such a sexist, racist, homophobic asshole, that him being a talent agent is, like, the fifth worst thing about him. But, he does have, at least, one redeeming quality: his love for his wife and children. The other most cutthroat person in Vince's life is his publicist Shauna. While Ari and E are focused on keeping Vince's career going, Shauna is all focused on keeping Vince's image up, and making sure he looks good to the press. And, I will say that I really like Shauna. Debi Mazar did an excellent job taking on the role. But, still, it's Ari Gold that is the most famous character of the series, and all that is due to a career defining performance by Jeremy Piven. 

        The various films and projects that Vince works on throughout the series include a few high profile films made by celebrity cameos in the series, with two being films made by the in-universe character of Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro), and one film being scrapped due to on-set tension between Vince and director Verner Vollstedt (Stellan Skarsgard). And, it's the latter film, Smoke Jumpers, that lands Vince his next major lead role. But, let's start over. So, prior to the start of the series, Vince has been in commercials for Vick's and Mentos, and would go on to be on an episode of JAG, and in movies Traveller (which Entourage exec. producer Mark Wahlberg actually DID appear in, by the way), A Walk to Remember, and the aforementioned Head-On. Coming off of Head-On, Vince goes on to lead an indie film called Queen's Boulevard, which lands him the lead role of a superhero film: Aquaman directed by James Cameron. And, the James Cameron Aquaman movie goes on to make more money than Spider-Man at the box office. Now, the studio behind Aquaman, Warner Bros, wants Vince to do the sequel, but unfortunately the director and writer of the first one, James Cameron and Andrew Kevin Walker, are being replaced by Michael Bay and Kevin Smith, respectively. And, given that his only interest in being in Aquaman was getting to work with James Cameron, he ends up opting out, and is replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal, in an instance that mirrors when Gyllenhaal almost replaced Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. 

       Vince's next film, and ultimate passion project, would also be his biggest failure: Medellín. After this, the Smoke Jumpers affair would occur, but it would lead to Vince getting an offer to play Nick Carraway in Martin Scorsese's Gatsby, which puts Vince back on top, and gets him a role in the Frank Darabont directed Ferrari, followed by an action film called The Takeover, which is directed by Nick Cassavetes. Now, obviously, none of these movies actually exist, and James Cameron had publicly made it clear that he couldn't make an Aquaman movie in real life, but it was neat to see some famous film directors show up to play themselves in the universe of Entourage. And, heck, I can totally see guys like Darabont and Scorsese make films like Ferrari and The Great Gatsby.

         During the show's seventh season, after a stunt gone wrong on the set of The Takeover, Vince begins to have something of a self-destructive streak, which includes Vince drinking a lot more, doing more harder drugs, dating adult film actress Sasha Grey, the list goes on. Unfortunately, after an intoxicated fight with Eminem, Vince is sent to rehab, which he gets released from at the start of the final season. Oh, and Drama gets a lead role of his own animated series: Johnny's Bananas co-starring Andrew Dice Clay.

        Now, while a predominant focus is on Vince's acting career, the second season sees Ari gets some major storyline development, as he enters into a feud with the head of the talent agency he works for, Terrance McQuewick, costing Ari his job at the TMA agency. In the third season, Ari teams up with his mentor, Barbara "Babs" Miller, to open the Miller-Gold Talent Agency, and of course Ari is joined by his loyal assistant Lloyd Lee, who is something of a punching bag for Ari due to the fact that Lloyd is a gay Chinese man. Like I said, Ari is an asshole. And, this distraction of focusing on his career leads to Ari neglecting Vince, who drops him as an agent and moves on. Enter Amanda Daniels, who does a lot of attempts to set up Vince for a few projects, including one by Sam Mendes, but it's when the two becomes involved romantically that.things get complicated, as she deliberately tries to prevent him from being in Medellín, despite it being his passion project. And, it's here where Vince re-signs with Ari, and a feud between Ari and Amanda begins that carries through the remainder of the series. Oh, and Terrance returns, and he looks to have Ari buy out TMA, which Ari and Babs agree to, and Ari sweeps through the TMA staff that is being let go, in a hilarious segment involving a paintball gun. No, I'm serious. 

         Now, much of Entourage's humor and attitude is deeply rooted in Bro culture. From the outfit styles, to the language, to the depictions of the various individuals around Los Angeles, the series just drips with the various bits and bobs of Bro culture. Not that Bro culture was a bad thing back when it was popular, but it's definitely a lifestyle that's come under fire in the years since the show ended. But, when Bro culture was at its height, this show truly entrenched itself in the hard partying, frat boy mentality that was Bro culture. But, it's not to say that Vince and the guys don't do good things for others. For instance, in the second episode of the third season, as the West Coast is dealing with rolling blackouts on the opening day for Aquaman, Vince and the guys are in the valley and they meet with two high schoolers who enjoyed the movie, and are looking to get into a party, and Vince helps get them into the party, where they hook up with a couple girls from their school, and Vince gives them the keys to the car he was leasing, telling them the lease is up in August. Sweet. 

         But, the show Entourage was widely known for its vast swath of celebrity cameos, including the aforementioned James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Frank Darabont, and Nick Cassavetes. Other celebrities that make cameos throughout the series include the likes of Bob Saget, Peter Jackson, Stan Lee, Gus Van Sant, Jessica Alba, Mandy Moore, James Woods, Zac Efron, Saigon, Kanye West, Matt Damon, Ali Larter, David Faustino, Peter Dinklage, Pauly Shore, Hugh Hefner, Chuck Liddell, Seth Green, Eminem, Melinda Clarke, Mark Cuban, Mark Wahlberg, and the list goes on. By the way, that's just the celebrities that played themselves. There were other notable celebrities that played characters within the series. But, again, the list is too numerous to go through. Seriously, watching Entourage is a really fun game of "Spot the Star" with pretty much every episode. 

          Now, because of the show's roots in Bro culture, Vince and the guys aren't necessarily in long-term relationships with women throughout the series. It's pretty much a series of hook ups here and there. Now, we do see some long-term relationships peppered throughout the series, with E in an on-and-off relationship with Sloan McQuewick, Turtle having a relationship with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Vince being in a relationship with Sasha Grey, and of course we have Ari's marriage to his wife Melissa. The dynamic between Jeremy Piven and Perrey Reeves throughout the series is genuinely fantastic, and I thoroughly bought them as a couple throughout the entire series. 

          Now, I do need to discuss the final episode of the series, where we see Vince preparing to get married to a woman named Sophia, Ari quitting his job as a talent agent to be with his family after listening to an opera group that his daughter, Sarah, discovered, and Eric and Sloan reconcile for the sake of their baby. And, in a post-credits scene, Ari gets a call from John Ellis to take over as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Definitely a great way to end the series, and something that Doug Ellin would pick up on with the 2015 Entourage movie. 

          The performances by the five leads of Entourage are all enjoyable. Adrian Grenier as Vince is a great leading man, while Kevin Connelly as E, Kevin Dillon as Drama, and Jerry Ferrara as Turtle are awesome and hilarious, with Turtle being the obvious fan favorite of the bunch. But, it's like I said. Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold is a big part of what makes the series work. His cutthroat attitude, his insane bigotry, and the hilarious way he screams "Lloyd!" throughout the series makes him a fun character that was a complete scene stealer from the debut episode of the series. Heck, a real book was published that was "written" by Ari called The Gold Standard: Rules to Rule By. That's awesome. 

         Overall, the show Entourage was a ton of fun. I have watched it in it's entirety at least four times, and I still laugh my ass off with every episode. I'm giving Entourage a rating of 5/5. Next time you log on to Max, definitely give the show a watch. And, if you've already watched it, then watch it again. It's just so much fun. 

        Anyway guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time. And, I think that I'll take a look at the Entourage movie some time in May. Yeah, that sounds good.