Confession time. I casually enjoyed the first three seasons of “Entourage”. It was never the funniest, but I had fun with the Hollywood aspect of it. The deals, the arguments, the concept of James Cameron making an Aquaman movie. Then like too many successful comedies…it continued.
Season Seven is now out on DVD to set up the final Eighth Season. The show is now a rundown car and too many of the flaws are shining with their brights on. A car is a bad metaphor because that implies that it is moving anywhere. This is without momentum, purpose, creativity, or even the basic elements to tell a story.
The same guys are still in Hollywood doing the same things. Vince (Adrian Grenier) is still one of the most beloved actors in this alternate universe despite no acting skills or charisma. “E” (Kevin Connelly) is still the manager who doesn’t ever seem to do anything except for make whining phone calls and complaining about friendships. Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) for some reason is now selling tequila and is taking part in the most annoyingly dull romantic plotline. Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillion) is trying to star in a sitcom and can’t even succeed at being a comic relief.
Not every show needs to be serialized, but this show sorta kinda wants to be. The characters say they want things, but instead of anything happening they just spin in circles. In Episode 2, the only thing that happens is that Vince gets a haircut. That’s it. Some people like it, some people don’t. There aren’t any jokes about it. THAT’S ALL THAT HAPPENS.
The only story that moves forward is Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) and his agency. Every episode has something new happen, but unfortunately it’s the same old boring stuff. Apparently he’s the biggest agent in the world! Yet he still spends all of his time dealing with Vince and E. Oh now his agency is in danger! Again! Really it’s just another obvious attempt to have various cameos by celebrities playing themselves with very little to do. John Stamos likes to play ping pong; this is as close as the show gets to a major plot point.
I give them a little bit of credit to try to do something with Vince. He has always been the blandest of characters, which is troubling since the whole universe is devoted to him. After he does his own stunt in a Nick Cassavettes movie, he becomes a bad boy. (Character development!) This involves drinking and hanging out with porn star Sasha Gray. Gray was fantastic in “The Girlfriend Experience” and is known for being surprisingly intellectual. That is brought up when it’s a punchline that she reads and then the rest is just lamer than lame porn jokes.
All of the humor is horrible. On the rare occasion the characters actually bother to tell a joke, it always feels too scripted and then all of the other characters say “Good one!” The cursing insults may have been a novelty at one point, but now even that’s just lazy.
It’s not funny, can’t tell a story, dumb, sexist, can’t fill the half hour, and is a dark mark on a network returning to the very top.
HBO discs never have a lot of bonus features. The first disc just has recaps of the previous seasons. Season Six was only about 90 seconds long and most of it was just them laughing and smiling. There are also a few commentaries, a 6 minute segment called “The Shades of Sasha Gray” which was an overproduced interview, and a 13 minute making-of. That last featurette was especially funny because of how much the cast said this was a serious, subtle season that wasn’t on cruise control. Also a good portion of the 13 minutes was about the haircut. IT’S SUCH A BIG DEAL. It also had the most revealing quote: “If people are attractive, you just let things go.”
Season: 1 Yap
Extras: 1.5 Yaps
http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/07/13/entourage-season-seven/
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