First Hit: Although billed as a comedy it was more like a drama that wasn’t that good nor was it very funny.
I’ve never seen the television series that this film was taken from – probably a good thing. I didn’t find it funny as it may be mimicking Hollywood studio decision making all too closely.
In this story, you never see anyone do any work on the film, so we’ve no idea how well it got made and if the team spent the money wisely, which is what the plot is all about – they need more money. The Entourage is made of Eric (Kevin Connolly), Vince (Adrian Grenier), Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara).
They are working with/for Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) who decides to take an offer to become studio head and his first film in his new role is one which he wants Eric to star. Eric is all in except he wants to direct the film as well. The plot takes a Hollywood and stupid turn when the movie almost doesn’t get released because of Travis McCredle’s (Haley Joel Osment) jealousness of Eric’s relationship with a girl he likes. Travis’s dad, Larson (Billy Bob Thornton) is the one putting up the cash for the film but listens to his son review of the initial showing. Sound like a stupid plot? Possibly, but it may have more base in Hollywood reality than we might think. There are lots of side stories that give credence to cameos by lots of famous people.
Connolly is OK as the main character. Nothing outstanding in his performance. Grenier, Dillon, and Ferrara are, at times, fun to watch as their own dramas' play out. Piven is the best part of this film as he fights his anger over Hollywood stupidity and his own ego. Osment was fun to see again and he made something of his character. Thornton slid through this small role. Doug Ellin and Rob Weiss wrote this rather predictable and uninteresting story. Ellin’s direction was better than the script and some of the cuts to the multiple stories being juggled were well done.
Overall: A few laughs, the drama wasn’t dramatic enough, and in the end it didn’t have much to offer.