In
the past few years, when long-running TV series ended, they have left their
loyal audiences feeling unsatisfied.
One
of the rare gems that left audiences with great satisfaction to the end was Entourage. The series was on HBO from
2004 to 2011. I really didn't care if there was an Entourage movie or not. But, I am glad Entourage creator Doug Ellin
and the cast decided to make a movie.
The Entourage movie was fun and didn't miss a beat from the series. The series
centered on a movie star Vince Chase played by Adrian Grenier and his childhood
friends from Queens, New York who navigated their way through the rough terrain
of Hollywood.
One
of the keys to the series was the cameos of several actors, athletes and
businessmen like Mark Cuban. They often played fictionalized versions of
themselves.
The
movie starts with a yacht party with Vince who has just separated from his wife
of nine days. Vince’s entourage: Johnny “Drama” Chase (Kevin Dillion), Eric “E”
Murphy (Kevin Connolly) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) show up to be there for him.
Vince is alright as he admits getting married was a mistake.
Vince
calls up his former agent, now a studio head, Ari Gold played Jeremy Piven. Ari
offers Vince a new project, but he says he will do the project if he can direct
it.
Eight
months later, there is a TV segment about Vince’s directorial debut, Hyde which is a new and different take
on Jekyll and Hyde. Ari does an
interview on the segment which he seems nervous about Vince’s directorial
debut. The movie highlights Drama, who is in some pivotal scenes in the movie.
The
movie’s production goes over budget by $15 million. Vince meets with Ari to get
more money. Ari doesn’t want to go back to the Texas financial backers of the
film, but he does.
There
are lots of different story-lines going on within the movie such as E and
ex-girlfriend, Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) are having a baby, Ari dealing with
the Texas money people who comprise of Larsen McCredle played by Billy Bob
Thornton and his son, Travis played by Haley Joel Osment and Drama has an
embarrassing video on the internet. and Lloyd, Ari’s former assistant is
getting married and wants him to give him away. The story-line, I really enjoyed
was Turtle pursuing Ronda Rousey, the UFC champion. Their relationship starts off great, then
Turtle turns it into business which turns Ronda off. Turtle does a crazy thing to win her back. I
will let you see that for yourself.
Vince
hosts a screening party for Hyde.
Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Emily Ratajkowski is there and she and Vince
are getting friendly. Travis has a crush on her. When he is introduced to her; he comes off
like a fool. A nervous Vince doesn't’ show his movie, but gives Ari a copy of Hyde.
Ari
watches the movie and calls Vince and tells him he is blown away by it.
Arriving at the studio, Ari finds Travis’s car parked in his space. Travis is
in Ari’s office and tells him while he liked the movie, he did not like Drama’s
performance. He demands that Drama be cut from the film. Later, Travis tells
Vince, he didn’t like him in the movie. Travis locks Vince out of the Hyde
editing room.
Things
started to hit the fan, a secret meeting with the studio CEO John Ellis (Alan
Dale), The McCredles, the board of directors and Ari’s old friend Dana Gordon
(Constance Zimmer) to discuss Hyde is
crashed by Ari. He reveals that Travis doesn’t like Hyde because he is jealous of Vince’s relationship with Emily.
The
movie takes on a heroic tone as Ari resigns from the studio. Hyde becomes a huge success grossing
over $450 million and earning Golden Globe nominations for Drama for Best
Supporting Actor. I will not tell, if Drama won, but the scene is very funny.
