Entourage, The Movie Delivers The Same Flair As The TV Series Did And It Works By Art Byrd

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.

Entourage, the movie had some loose ends that were tied up in the end. If you love the series you will love the movie. I am very glad that the Entourage ride was not over.