Six questions off the top of my mind about the current state of “Entourage”:
More, please. (HBO photo)
1. Have the guys regressed back to high school? This season’s plot points (if you can call them that, they’re so flimsy) have been more appropriate for a teenager, not a 30-ish movie star. Vince learns to drive, E gets teased for liking a girl, E gets his own place (Oooh, he can have girls over now!), the guys get drunk in the limo on the way to the prom (err, premiere) then later sit around the couch drinking and making out with their dates, E is torn over being “just friends” with a girl . . . . what happened to the makers of the show saying this season was all about change and growing up? It’s bizarre.
2. Did Turtle and Drama get lobotomized? Last season added a layer of depth to these two. Drama was suddenly a working, pseudo-successful actor again. Turtle found a girlfriend and a possible new business venture (what happened to that limo idea anyway?). Now they have nothing better to do that kick back around the house, chime in with random insults, drink and smoke out. Drama, especially, has reverted into a caricature of his old self, minus the protein shakes and shameless name-dropping. It’s too bad, I liked the direction those characters had been heading.
3. What happened to E’s taste in women? I can understand him being interested in Sloan, but how has he dropped his standards from that Perfect 10 model in Season 1 to that stalker Ashley last night, who looked like a cross between Gollum and a Bratz doll? And she looked about 12. Yikes.
4. Why haven’t we seen any scenes of Vince from Scorcese’s “Gatsby”? Oh, that’s right, because Vince is a terrible actor and showing a clip of him would spoil the illusion that he did a bang-up job in a great movie. The bits of him we saw from “Medellin” and “Smokejumpers” proved that.
5. When did they shoot this? Not one, but two scenes revolving around the do-ability of Seth Rogen in “Knocked Up”? Didn’t that movie come out two years ago? Who’s still obsessed about that? And that Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue Drama was reading came out in February. So we’re supposed to believe Scorcese’s masterpiece is being released in February, the dumping ground for bad movie releases? Or has it just been sitting on Vince’s coffee table for six months? Coming on top of last week’s Leno/”My Name Is Earl” oddities, it just looks sloppy and dated. (And obvious that this season has been held in the can for about six months.)
6. Why bother with the guys anymore? They all bore me. Ari Gold is where it’s at. His office has all the interesting plotlines, all the characters with depth, and all the best lines. If the show became “The Adventures of Ari and Lloyd,” I wouldn’t be disappointed. Mrs. Ari is always awesome, and I liked the addition of Mrs. Andrew (Jamie Gertz). Seems more and more like Andrew wasn’t a loser because Ari left him behind, but because he’s an slimy, alcoholic womanizer. (I told you Gary Cole always plays a sleazebag!) Between Andrew’s self-destruction and Lloyd’s promotion hazing, it looks like it’ll be a verrrry interesting season at the office.
