How frustrated have I been with Entourage? Apparently frustrated enough to delete my season pass. Oops. I was going to write a review, but that'll have to wait for tomorrow. Still, I have a lot to say about the show, so I might as well get the griping out of my system now so I can start the review fresh. I really was looking forward to watching this episode though, and I still am, because I'm just so desperate for something new to happen.
While the repetition can get a little old, there is one problem that has been dragging the show down since the end of Season 1.
Who thought it was a good idea to give Vince artistic integrity?
He gets offered the big budget, superstar-making action movie and turns it down to run off to New York to do some shoestring indie because he wants to be seen as a great actor. The audience is supposed to be on-board with this? Umm, I'm alone in my living room, I don't need to pretend I wouldn't IMMEDIATELY sell out if I became famous. In fact, I'll say it right now to the whole internet: For lots of money, I would star in a Jonas Brothers movie where they die in a pony explosion on Hannah Montana's Ranch, and their ghosts have to make 100 plain girls feel special at the fall pumpkin dance in order to get into Rock n' Roll Heaven, which is then populated only with artists deemed appropriate by the Disney corporation (so, none of the good ones).
These aspirations wouldn't have been so terrible if the show was about a talented young actor trying to be taken seriously, but it was a show about a guy who just happened to be good looking and parlayed that into lots of money, nice cars, a huge house, and dinner with Scarlett Johansson (yep, that's season 1 in a nutshell). It also didn't help that Vince is played by Adrian Grenier, the male Andie MacDowell, who seemed to be having trouble acting out one-note Vince, nevermind pulling off some complex character that Vince was supposed to be playing. From that point on, the show became about Vince's talent not being recognized and everyone reassuring him about how fantastic he was. Then the audience would be treated to a scene with him performing, and were reminded that the guy couldn't actually act his way out of a paper bag.
It was the same problem Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had. Well, that show had a few problems, but I think it shared a major one with Entourage. Studio 60 was supposed to be Saturday Night Live, meaning it was a popular and legendary comedy show. All episode long we would be reminded of this, and how talented the cast was, and then they would show the cast performing a sketch and it was...terrible. It was like the "satire" that the vegan in your creative writing class would write, a whiffleball bat filled with heavy-handed rhetoric that they would gladly bash you over the head with. Yet the audience would laugh, and during a walk-and-talk a character would gush about how wonderful it felt to pull off a genius, groundbreaking sketch that the audience was obviously in love with. It's the "Emperor's New Clothes" situation; you're naked, and we know it, so stop telling us how nice your outfit is and put some pants on like we want you to.
One of my favorite Entourage moments of all time was when Vince straight up asked Ari if he was a good actor, and Ari responded that it was yet to be seen. THANK YOU! That acknowledgment was enough to get me back for this season, and I just hope the show is back on track. Much like Heroes, I stick with Entourage because the concept is so good that I just want to see it done right. With Entourage though, I have faith that things are going to turn around in a hurry. Go-Go Season 6!
