Rising Hollywood star Vincent Chase (Zach Grenier) goes through
all the wildness of L.A.
life and his career with best friend Eric (Kevin Connolly),
brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), and friend Turtle (Jerry
Ferrara). His jerk agent Ari (Jeremy Piven) keeps the roles
coming.
CRITIQUE
The HBO network has long since established itself as a television
powerhouse. Their original programming is consistently critically
successful. There are a number of shows of such caliber on the
network, including The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.
Though not everyone subscribes to HBO, the proliferation of DVD now
allows for everyone to enjoy their series. The latest available is
this skewering of the young Hollywood
lifestyle. Entourage is a well-written, well-acted show that
will entertain even people other than the young males it aims at.
This being a half-hour comedy, the writing has to be funny in ways
other than spoofing LaLa
Land. The characters must be developed separately and in conjunction
with each other. These things are accomplished well, and I can think
of many examples, such as Turtle knocking over Gary Busey’s artwork,
or Ari’s interaction with his wife at their child’s birthday party.
The Hollywood setting requires some touches, like real L.A. hotspots
and actual celebrity guest stars or referencing fictional projects
(such as when Drama auditions for CSI: Minneapolis), which work
on the whole.
In connection with that, knowing that Mark Wahlberg is an executive
producer (he even cameos in the pilot) sheds an interesting light on
things. For example, the Drama character is an older brother already
working in the business whose little brother overshadows him. If there
had been any mention of a boy band, people’s thoughts would have gone
straight to Mark’s own older brother, former New Kid on the Block (who
I loved!) Donnie Wahlberg, who now impresses as an actor himself going
back to his small part in The Sixth Sense, and continuing to
the excellent but cancelled show Boomtown and the 2001
mini-series event Band of Brothers.
The artistic elements of the show are top-notch as well. The
cinematography is frequently stellar and the costuming and locations
feel very authentic. I also like the music. My only caveat is that
because the series is male-oriented, there are many examples of adult
content, mostly language.
The cast here is good, really seeming to inhabit the characters.
Zach Grenier is perfectly cast, good-looking enough to believe he’s a
movie star but being a real, growing character as well. Kevin Connelly
is excellent at being the level-headed one and Jerry Ferrara is pretty
funny. My favorite is Jeremy Piven who is hilarious, so gifted, and
who I have been a fan of for awhile. From his work here, I hope many
others will be too.
THE VIDEO
The transfer to DVD suits the shooting style of the show well and
there are no problems with color, as that bright L.A.
light comes through clearly. The video is presented in 1.33:1
fullscreen format.
THE AUDIO
The sound is fine and that (mostly) great dialogue comes through
quite well in the Dolby Digital 2.0 presentation. French and Spanish
2.0 language tracks are offered, as are English, French and Spanish
subtitles.
THE EXTRAS
Behind
the Scenes:
This is a brief featurette with mostly interviews from the cast and
Mark Wahlberg. The material here is fairly interesting and with less
clips than usual on these types of featurettes, so you get more
information. I like the comments on casting that are revealed here.
Audio Commentary:
Creator Doug Ellin and executive producer Larry Charles provide audio
commentary on the Pilot, Busey and the Beach and New
York. The information they discuss is usually interesting and
their rapport is often funny. They praise everyone a lot (every guest
star they were “lucky to get”) but not excessively. It’s interesting
to know things like the fact that they filmed the opening scene of the
pilot in Fred Segal in L.A.
from 6 to 11 a.m.
before the store opened for the day.
