If you every want to get a good idea of what it's like to try to make it in show business, for better or worse, you might like to check out Entourage. For this Emmy, Golden-Globe and Peabody Award-winning slice-of-life drama offers a super-realistic, albeit often lighthearted look at the fortunes of a young Hollywood actor on the rise.
That fictional character, Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier), negotiates his way around the murky waters of Tinseltown with the help of his tough as nails agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), and surrounded by three childhood friends: his manager Eric (Kevin Connolly), his half-brother Drama (Kevin Dillon) who is also an aspiring thespian, and party animal Turtle (Jerry Ferrara). And rounding out the support players in Vince's entourage are his publicist Shauna (Debi Mazar) and Ari's long-suffering assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee).
Season Five also featured an impressive array of guest appearances, including by Giovanni Ribisi, rapper Bow Wow, Fran "the Nanny" Drescher, Oscar-winner Martin Landau, Lukas Haas and comedian Kevin Pollak. In addition, plenty of celebs made cameo appearances as themselves, such as since incarcerated gangsta' rapper T.I., crooner Tony Bennett, golfer Phil Mickelson, actors Mark Wahlberg and Eric Roberts, and film critic Richard Roeper.
Faithful followers of the show will remember that the season opener picked up right where the previous one had left off, with an episode entitled Fantasy Island chronicling the aftermath of Vince's movie Medellin's bombing at the Cannes Film Festival. In subsequent installments we find him ironing out relationships issues with his girlfriend (Julia Levy-Boekin), hunting for a job just to pay the bills, and doing a photo shoot with a supermodel (Daniella Van Graas) he has a history with.
Overall, an alternately hilarious and plausible peek at life in L.A.'s fast lane.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated TV-MA
Running time: 325 minutes
Studio: HBO Home Entertainment
3-Disc DVD Extras: Behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, and three audio commentaries by the show's writers, producers and cast members.
To see a trailer for Entourage- Season 5,
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze.
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