Entourage review: an unwanted, unlovely, sparklingly laugh-free movie

The endless HBO series is inexplicably given a big-screen resurrection that’s lazy and largely laugh-free

Entourage
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Director: Doug Ellin
Cert: 15A
Genre: Drama
Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Billy Bob Thornton, Haley Joel Osment, Emily Ratajkowski, Ronda Rousey
Running Time: 1 hr 44 mins

Even the most devout fans of Entourage – the long-running HBO show inspired by Mark Walhberg's real-life hangers-on – will tell you that the show limped along for at least the last two seasons.

And so, for no reason, we have an unwanted, unlovely, sparklingly laugh-free movie version in which the plot runs thus: Wahlberg ersatz Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) wants to direct a big-budget movie, then celebrity cameo, then holding pattern, then celebrity cameo, then holding pattern, the end.

Whatever satirical function Entourage once served (and it's a debatable point) has been eclipsed by lazy wish-fulfilment, lazy t'n'a displays and even lazier writing. There's something very wrong when Jeremy Piven's sharp delivery can't put a sheen on the screenplay's many non-zingers.

And the subplots: the film’s co-financiers are circling; resident idiot Drama (Kevin Dillon) wants to be taken seriously as an actor; Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) wants a date with MMA star Ronda Rousey; and E (Kevin Connolly) has too many women. They give the word “filler” a bad name.

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We’d say it was just for the fans. But not even. What are you doing with these losers, Ronda?

Tara Brady

Tara Brady

Tara Brady, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a writer and film critic