Post by Ace on Jul 18, 2004 16:02:32 GMT -5
Yeah it mentions his name but it's incidental even for Pierce Ephemera.
Celebrity sightings, name dropping help to make HBO's 'Entourage' fun
DOUGLAS DURDEN
POINT OF VIEW Jul 18, 2004
Douglas Durden
ENTOURAGE
WHEN: 10 to 10:30 p.m. Sundays on HBO
HBO's new "Entourage" is a very hip, sexy, aggressively young-thinking dramedy that may or may not be based on the life of Mark Wahlberg, budding movie star and the show's executive producer.
Like Wahlberg, Vince (Adrian Grenier) is a rising young star with working-class roots. (Vince is from Queens, N.Y.; Wahlberg is from Dorchester, Mass.)
Like Wahlberg, Vince has an older brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), who was in the business first. (Donnie Wahlberg was a New Kid on the Block before Mark was a Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.)
Not that it matters a lot.
"Entourage," an eight-episode series premiering at 10 tonight, is a fun look at Hollywood from the perspective of a spoiled twentysomething actor and his childhood friends, whether they're fact-based or not.
Vince, with a new movie opening, is being compared to the next Johnny Depp. But he's way more interested in how to spend his money than in evaluating scripts. That's what his friend Eric (Kevin Connolly) is for.
Eric functions as Vince's live-in manager, fielding calls, reading scripts and helping Vince avoid any form of real life.
Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) functions as the all-purpose gofer. He drives the car of the moment (a Hummer in one episode; a Rolls-Royce in an
other), picks up dry-cleaning and makes sure there are plenty of young women around.
Most amusing of all is Dillon as Vince's brother, called Drama, perhaps, for his lack of acting skills.
Drama likes to remind people he was on "Melrose Place." But now he's unable to find work. (Adding to the joke, Dillon also has a brother - Matt Dillon - who's better known as an actor.)
Vince surrounds himself with friends and family because he trusts them. They also like to party as much as he does, following the house rule of "No girl friends; no commitments."
In the three episodes sent to reviewers, we never see Vince actually work. He's busy going out or recovering from going out.
The only member of the group actually working (unless you count Turtle trolling for chicks) is Eric, serving as the one voice of reason. And he doesn't speak very loudly.
It's Eric who suggests that the $4 million role being offered to Vince might not be right for him - infuriating Vince's agent, Ari.
Ari is played by Jeremy Piven, stealing every scene he's in as a raging caricature of Hollywood at its slimiest.
Ari is like a windup doll wound its tightest, scanning the room for better people to talk to, threatening bodily harm with a smile plastered on his face when he's crossed, scheming for new clients behind the backs of their agents.
What a worthy successor this is to Piven's previous role as a writer on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show."
Much of the fun of the TVMA-rated "Entourage" comes in spotting real-life members of young Hollywood. Grenier, Connolly, Dillon and Ferrara are playing fictitious people; Jessica Alba, David Faustino, Luke Wilson and even Wahlberg make cameo appearances as themselves.
There's a lot of name-dropping as well, as in knocking golf balls over Pierce Brosnan's house.
This is-it-fiction or is-it-real? approach results in a great sequence in the third episode when Vince makes an appearance on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" - with the real Jimmy Kimmel providing the stage.
"Entourage" may not be HBO's next great series. But it's a fun one - as long as you don't mind boys being boys.
Celebrity sightings, name dropping help to make HBO's 'Entourage' fun
DOUGLAS DURDEN
POINT OF VIEW Jul 18, 2004
Douglas Durden
ENTOURAGE
WHEN: 10 to 10:30 p.m. Sundays on HBO
HBO's new "Entourage" is a very hip, sexy, aggressively young-thinking dramedy that may or may not be based on the life of Mark Wahlberg, budding movie star and the show's executive producer.
Like Wahlberg, Vince (Adrian Grenier) is a rising young star with working-class roots. (Vince is from Queens, N.Y.; Wahlberg is from Dorchester, Mass.)
Like Wahlberg, Vince has an older brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), who was in the business first. (Donnie Wahlberg was a New Kid on the Block before Mark was a Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.)
Not that it matters a lot.
"Entourage," an eight-episode series premiering at 10 tonight, is a fun look at Hollywood from the perspective of a spoiled twentysomething actor and his childhood friends, whether they're fact-based or not.
Vince, with a new movie opening, is being compared to the next Johnny Depp. But he's way more interested in how to spend his money than in evaluating scripts. That's what his friend Eric (Kevin Connolly) is for.
Eric functions as Vince's live-in manager, fielding calls, reading scripts and helping Vince avoid any form of real life.
Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) functions as the all-purpose gofer. He drives the car of the moment (a Hummer in one episode; a Rolls-Royce in an
other), picks up dry-cleaning and makes sure there are plenty of young women around.
Most amusing of all is Dillon as Vince's brother, called Drama, perhaps, for his lack of acting skills.
Drama likes to remind people he was on "Melrose Place." But now he's unable to find work. (Adding to the joke, Dillon also has a brother - Matt Dillon - who's better known as an actor.)
Vince surrounds himself with friends and family because he trusts them. They also like to party as much as he does, following the house rule of "No girl friends; no commitments."
In the three episodes sent to reviewers, we never see Vince actually work. He's busy going out or recovering from going out.
The only member of the group actually working (unless you count Turtle trolling for chicks) is Eric, serving as the one voice of reason. And he doesn't speak very loudly.
It's Eric who suggests that the $4 million role being offered to Vince might not be right for him - infuriating Vince's agent, Ari.
Ari is played by Jeremy Piven, stealing every scene he's in as a raging caricature of Hollywood at its slimiest.
Ari is like a windup doll wound its tightest, scanning the room for better people to talk to, threatening bodily harm with a smile plastered on his face when he's crossed, scheming for new clients behind the backs of their agents.
What a worthy successor this is to Piven's previous role as a writer on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show."
Much of the fun of the TVMA-rated "Entourage" comes in spotting real-life members of young Hollywood. Grenier, Connolly, Dillon and Ferrara are playing fictitious people; Jessica Alba, David Faustino, Luke Wilson and even Wahlberg make cameo appearances as themselves.
There's a lot of name-dropping as well, as in knocking golf balls over Pierce Brosnan's house.
This is-it-fiction or is-it-real? approach results in a great sequence in the third episode when Vince makes an appearance on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" - with the real Jimmy Kimmel providing the stage.
"Entourage" may not be HBO's next great series. But it's a fun one - as long as you don't mind boys being boys.