THIS is the second film by writer/director Doug Ellin to deliver a snapshot of a quartet of young New Yorkers enjoying being corrupted by Hollywood’s ambience and its moral environment.
The film’s genealogy originates in a TV series that ran from 2004 to 2011. Forgive me for not having seen it if it ever ran in Australia. I’ve better things to do with my life.
Former agent now studio head Ari (Jeremy Pivens) has bankrolled the movie of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that Vince (Adrian Greiner) is making. The $100m budget has blown out and Ari asks Texas squillionaire McCredie (Billy Bob Thornton) for a top-up. Yes, but young Travis McCredie will supervise how Vince spends it and exercise control over the finished product.
It’s hard to separate the lifestyle antics of Hollywood wannabes from the business finagling arising from the production of Vince’s film. The former scatters hedonism of every kind across the film’s landscape and anybody with half a brain will quickly realise that Ellin is enjoying directing characters not over-blessed with cultural sensitivity or social grace. The latter builds up a dismaying picture of the cut and thrust of power, its accretion, risks and selfishness.
“Entourage” relies on comedy to sustain it. When you remember that it began as network TV, that’s not surprising. It’s too easy to move to another channel. Will Ellin’s film give birth to a sequel? My crystal ball is in for a service so I can’t tell.
At all cinemas
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