ENTOURAGE

2015 / Director. Doug Ellin. 
Review by Jarret Gahan. 

Following the dissolution of his short-term marriage, Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) makes the call that the next film he is to star in, he will also direct. When the film is near finished but requiring additional funding to complete post-production, producer Eric (Kevin Connolly) is forced to call upon studio head, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) for the cash. Wary though buoyant, Ari is pushed to seek the capital from the key financier, Texan oil billionaire Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton), who stipulates that his brat son Travis (Haley Joel Osment) must sight the film before any more investment is made. Ari returns to Los Angeles with Travis to attend a rough cut screening turned five hundred plus person party that Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) has organised, however Vince gets cold feet and pulls the film at the eleventh hour. With word quickly spreading through Hollywood that the production may troubled, Ari & Vince's entourage are forced to fight all forms of interference particularly that of Travis and his laundry list of notes to get the film finished and into theatres. 

 While this is the basic premise of the film, it's not entirely the narrative, as is the case with the television series, it's the sum of the subplots that define the series and that's where the strength in the film lies. The ENTOURAGE film doesn't attempt to break new ground or recontextualise the television series, rather series creator come feature director Doug Ellin understands his audience and allows the film to play out as a marathon of half a season's worth of episodes with a higher budget and it works. Adopting the same approach and insight as this series, ENTOURAGE is a voyeuristic look into both the private and very public lives of fictitious Hollywood players that often draws genuine parallels to industry icons, proving to be as much an exposé as it is entertainment. Loaded with cameos from reprising characters (along with a plethora of celebrities playing themselves), intertextual references and continued adventures/misadventures of the central characters, ENTOURAGE is a perfect fan film, expanding the defunct series into a potential ongoing film franchise. While it may initially seem alienating to those unaccustomed with the television series, the film does stand on its own and will no doubt win a new allegiance of fans once seen.

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