Entourage (2015), R, ★★

Uh oh! The crew is watching Turtle being pounded by Ronda Rousey.

I personally never have encountered Los Angeles, however, any event when heading there for vacation or business can be of interest. Whether or not you visit the walk of fame, glancing at all of those stars on the ground and what each of the artists have contributed. Also, you never know whether or not you are going to bump into a celebrity. Plus, there are many shopping centers and places that you can look around. But, the biggest flaw will be the traffic, so...anyway, the movie attempts to glamorize the guys' lifestyles in a friendly and macho way, however, it is more like a longer episode of the TV show than a stand-alone movie. Also, it was not that interesting nor that funny.

Drama, E and Turtle (Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly and Jerry Ferrara) are on their way via motorboat to a yacht party for their buddy, Vincent (Adrian Grenier), who has been separated from his wife after nine days of marriage. Vincent calls Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), who was his former agent and now a studio head, who offers Vincent a new project, only if he directs. Eight months later, Vincent's project of Hyde, a little spin of Jekyll and Hyde, has gone over-budget in their production by $15 million so Vince can ask him for more money in addition to the $100 million already given.
Ari needs to have a talk with his co-financiers in Texas in order to move the project forward.

Meanwhile, E meets up at the OB/GYN with his ex, Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui), who is close to giving birth. But, also under pressure while in the emergency room, he is seeing a new girl named Melanie (Sarina Galecki), though he has not told Sloan yet as he receives a text from he wanting to have sex with him.

Ari is in Texas with his financiers, Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton) and his arrogant son, Travis (Haley Joel Osment). They both are hesitant to give Ari more money. Ari is confident in Travis' work so to ensure that everything goes well, Larsen tells Travis to go with Ari back to Los Angeles. That's basically the main storyline as the gang encounters a lot of celebrities along the way in the entirety of the movie.

Let's have some assurance that everything goes well.

I have actually seen some of the show, Entourage, in preparation for the movie and more or less, this is the same episode that is filled with satire, jokes, weed, champagne and chicks. It is more like a friendly reunion with a person that you have not seen in high school for a while and not talked to for the duration of those years. My main problem with this movie is that the screenplay does not present any new challenges nor interesting challenges for the four characters and Ari. It is more like a hangout and we witness what they are talking without any interaction with the characters. Plus, the movie does not generate as much laughter or energy as I thought.

The four lead actors do a good job but somehow, it is the problem with the character development that does not go anywhere and they just become pretentious and arrogant guys for the whole movie. But, however, I did like the last 20 minutes of the movie where they fix the main situation after Sloan delivers her and E's baby daughter. But, it is not a spoiler, well, sort of: E and Sloan get back together...again. The real savior is Jeremy Piven whose character is gold and provides most of the much-needed laughter for the film. The many cameos were not much of a factor except for Ronda Rousey, Billy Bob Thornton and Haley Joel Osment which had some nuance and nasty humor added. The others were just added for irreverence and randomness.

No doubt fans of the show will enjoy the movie. If I say to somebody who is not a fan of the show, I'd say not to see it because you would not get the lifestyle and how the mechanics of making a movie work. You would need to enjoy the Los Angeles atmosphere and the characters to enjoy the film and its show. I was disappointed because this movie needed to have some jolt of emotion and new challenges to make the lead characters overcome that obstacle of what they need to do to make their lives better.

**