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Entourage: Season 1
R4 - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Steve Wrigley & Noor Razzak (26th September 2006). |
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The Film
 Imagine watching the E! network or "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (1984), that really crap show where you watch famous people spend money and go to parties. Now imagine that there is no cheesy voice over from some coked-up cookie cutter presenter. Imagine the star is someone you actually like. He's your best friend. He's famous. He spreads the wealth, the cars, the house and the girls around to those closest to him. "Entourage" is not a show about being famous. That's the subject matter. It is most definitely a show about the interesting bonds that exist between men. The nicknames that stick. The history and the 'in'. It's about Bros' before Hos'. No piking. Finish your drinks, we're going to Vegas. Vinnie Chase (Adrian Grenier) got his break being the star of a toothpaste commercial. He's a poor kid from Queens, NYC, who is about to make it huge in Hollywood with the release of his first big action flick 'Head On'. Of course, nobody in Hollywood gets where they get on their own. They have a number of people who work behind the scenes to get them there, and they all share in his success and failure. They are his "ENTOURAGE". The show is a giant in joke on the entertainment industry, it's mechanics and it's people and most of all, it's money. The greatest thing? It's an in joke that you are actually in on right from the get go. If you are a movie buff, TV buff or love everything about Hollywood you'll be as addicted to this show as I was. Vinnie's entourage includes his older brother, Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), his friend from queens and gofer, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) and best friend Eric AKA "E" (Kevin Connolly) begin the series trying to capitalise on 'Head On' by picking the right project for Vinnie's next film. The season has a classic (I'm assuming) Hollywood dilemma. Do you do the big budget soulless studio pop corn flick 'Matterhorn' described as "die hard at Disney land"?, or the indie film 'Queens Boulavard' for no money but a chance to star in "the next Deer Hunter"? Vinnie and E want the prestige of making a good film. Ari wants the money, Turtle and Drama want to go to strip clubs to spend Vinnies' money. Fantastic television ensues. Actually, this isn't television, it's HBO, something that goes above and beyond what television could ever be. The two stand out performances in this show are easily Jeremy Piven, who won an emmy this year for his work in Season Two (About time!) Piven is the magic of this show. You will fall in love with his smooth talking, his underhanded sneakyness but most of all, his temper tantrums. An actor with amazing control, Piven can take what most actors would turn into a shouting scene and make it a verbal ballet of course language, pauses, clenched fist and body language that will have you hitting rewind more then once. And second, my closet favourite, Kevin Dillon's Johnny Drama is comic relief as it is understood in the naughties. Doing away with bursting open doors and crappy one liners that have been the uncle Joeys of the past, Drama is the king of the awkward moment. Entourage is famous in many ways but one is for the celebrity guests playing themselves on the show. Acaedmy award winning directors, actors and it boys and girls make fun of themselves and the business as they guest star on this show, and Drama's interaction with them is superb. Watch for the a moment of supreme awkward between Drama and Larry David outside of Ari's office. Of all these guest stars, Gary Busey has to be the best. If your like me and grew up watching Busey in films like "Point Break" (1991) and "Under Siege" (1992) (44 minutes and 32 seconds) seeing the drug addled former heavy hitter "Spin off the planet" as he tries to get Vinnie to endorse his artwork will have you smiling and wishing that Busey would baptise your soul. Like he does Turtle's. At the beach. Check it out. The only reason you shouldn't watch this show is if you always wanted to be famous, rich, sexy and popular. Because now you'll know EXACTLY what your missing. "Entourage" is one of the best HBO comedies produced, the characters make it work and their chemistry solidifies it. This series comes highly recommended. The First Season includes all 8 episodes, below is a description of each one featured on this 2-disc set: Episode 1: "Pilot" We are introduced to Vincent Chase, a young, hot, up-and-coming actor living in Hollywood who is attending the premiere of his latest movie "Head On". Vince's agent Ari is doing all he can to get his client to read a new script "Matterhorn", which Vince does not want to do on his friend Eric's advice. Reluctantly they meet with the director, who is ultimately impressed with the young actor and is offered $4 million for the part. While Turtle and Johnny Drama celebrate the new paycheck, Vince decides not to take the part. Ari and Eric have dinner to discuss the future of their star's career. Once Vince has passed on the part, Ari delivers news that Colin Farrell has taken the part, indicating that they made a huge mistake passing on the film. Episode 2: "The Review" Turtle delivers some bad news when an important movie magazine has given Vince's performance in "Head On" a negative review. Eric pays a visit to Ari to talk about the review and while at his office meets Ari's new assistant Emily (Samaire Armstrong). Eric is told to get Vince's mind off the review and show him a good time, so Vince and the boys go car shopping and make a rather poor decision to lease a new Rolls Royce. Later, Vince's "Head On" co-star Jessica Alba invites the boys to a party at her place for her friend the pop star Justine Chapin (Leighton Meester). The next day Eric reads a great review from The New York Times proclaiming him to be "the next Johnny Depp." Episode 3: "Talk Show" After a boxing match, Jimmy Kimmel asks Vince to come on to his late night talk show to promote the new film "Head On." in which he agrees. Drama has a problem with Kimmel and fills Vince in on his old grudge that might become a problem. Later, Eric has trouble getting stories from Vince for a pre-interview, Vince decides to wing it Eric's ex-girlfriend Kristen (Monica Keena) stops by to pick up her things and eventually has "break-up sex." with him. Meanwhile, Drama and Turtle visit Rufus (Marlon Young), who sells high end home theater systems. He tells them that if Vince plugs his company on the Kimmel show, he will give them a theater for free. Episode 4: "Date Night" Ari is pumped that today is the all-important opening night for Vince's new movie and the box office numbers must be good. Emily drives over to Vince's to drops off fan mail, but comes with ulterior motives and is interested in seeing Eric. Drama gets a new lady friend (a very butch muscular lady friend) and introduces her to the boys. Later Vince stops by Big Boy's radio show, and while on the show Vince scores a date with virginal pop singer Justine Chapin. Ari is concerned that the early numbers for Vince's movie have been "less than stellar" because of it opening the same day as the latest Pixar film featuring a talking squirrel. Vince takes Justine out bowling with the guys and in an effort to get a date Turtle hooks up with a crazed fan of Vince's, later they hit a night club where, one by one, the boys find themselves alone but the night is salvaged when Ari shows up with some good news about Vince's box office numbers. Episode 5: "The Script and the Sherpa" Vince's latest lady overstays her welcome and Eric gets annoyed that Vince is listening to her rather than him for advice plus her vegan lifestyle is bothering everybody in the house, especially Turtle who longs for a decent piece of steak. Eric gets his hands on a hot script that he thinks is perfect for Vince, who love it and wants to do it. The only problem is the producer of the film isn't so hot on Vince to play the lead. Meanwhile the weed drought in L.A. is getting to Turtle, when Vince's lady hooks the boys up with her Sherpa (Val Kilmer) friend that grows his own. Later Eric and Vince have dinner with the producer, which does go very well, until Vince proclaims he is high. The producer looking for weed himself is surprised they have some and the boys share some of their stash with him, suddenly Vince is perfect for the part. Episode 6: "Busey and the Beach" Drama meets a new agent willing to represent him, only problem is he's a junior agent without an office or assistant and Drama doesn't take him seriously. Ari shows Eric and Vince into a special meeting as they go over the offers available to him. Later, the boys attend an art exhibition featuring works by actor Gary Busey where Turtle accidentally damages one of his pieces. The boys also bump into agent Josh Weinstein (Joshua LeBar) who invites them to a beach party. Ari sends Emily to be his 'eyes and ears' as he doesn't trust Weinstein. Meanwhile Drama is going through some tough times as he realises that all his actor friends are working as waiters and not making in the industry. Turtle confronts Busey who weirds out on Turtle and seems a little dangerous. As Weinstein is working Eric, he calls Ari letting him know that he's disappointed in him trying to sink their chances with this independent film Vince has his heart set on and threatens him with hiring Weinstein as Vince's new agent. In the middle of his kid's birthday party Ari leaves to the beach party to humiliate Weinstein and make good with Eric and Vince. Episode 7: "The Scene" Drama recently receives some residual money from the syndication of a show he appeared on while Ari has arranged a "meet & greet" with Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro) the director of "Queens Boulevard". Billy gives the boys a revised script that has Eric feeling uneasy. The new script includes a scene were Vince's character is getting a blow job from another guy. Vince's publicist Shauna (Debi Mazar) puts pressure on Eric not to mess up Vince's sex symbol status. Ari gets the boys to screen Billy's previous film before making any judgements, and Eric ends up liking it. The next day Vince tells Billy he'll do it, but it turns out the scene wasn't going to be in the film all along, it was just inserted for Billy's benefit to see if Vince trusts him with the film. Episode 8: "New York" Eric wants to make the move from Vince's friend to Vince's manager and wants more responsibility. Vince prepares to say goodbye to L.A.for three months as he prepares to shoot "Queens Boulevard" in New York. Meanwhile, Drama is presented with two options, a high-paying TV role on a new CSI franchise "CSI: Minneapolis" or a low-paying film gig on his brother's film. Turtle decides to promote Vince's going away as a party were he ends up making a lot of cash.
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 this full screen transfer is clear and sharp, although some episodes appeared softer than usual. I found colours to be vibrant and bold, especially blacks. Light grain can also be seen in several episodes otherwise I found no major flaws such edge-enhancement of compression artefacts. Overall it is a serviceable transfer that will likely please everyone.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included on this disc, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround as well as a French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the show with it's English soundtrack and found it pleasing. The dialogue is clean and distortion free, for a 2.0 surround mix it did have minimal depth, which is better than no depth. Some active surround ambiance was thrown in and the music was well mixed within the sound space and was never too intrusive. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Dutch, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Danish.
Extras
Warner Brothers have released this first season with only a small collection of extras that basically a port from the R1 U.S. release. We get three audio commentaries plus a featurette. Below is a closer look at these extras per disc. DISC ONE: Only a single extra is featured on this disc, an audio commentary by series creator Doug Ellin and executive producer Larry Charles on the "Pilot" episode. The two discuss the process in getting the show made, the dificulty in getting guests stars on a new show as well as the casting. They also discuss shooting in L.A. and share stories from the set. Overall it's an enjoyable track that fans of the show should certainly check out. DISC TWO: The first extra on this disc is the second audio commentary by series creator Doug Ellin and executive producer Larry Charles on "Busey at the Beach", the two basically carry on from the previous track letting us in on show secrets and shooting, as well as comment on specifics regarding this episode. The third and final audio commentary by series creator Doug Ellin and executive producer Larry Charles is on the season's final episode "New York", a few silent gaps fill this track in-between comments about the writing and performances. It's much of the same as we've seen from the previous track but still worth as listen as they are all entertaining. Rounding out the extras is a "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette that runs for 10 minutes 20 seconds. This is a standard EPK clip which features cast and crew talking about the show and covers the scripting and casting, which was an important aspect to get just right. There is some repetition of information already discussed in the commentaries and this clip covers only the basics.
Packaging
This 2-disc set is packaged in a amaray case which is housed in a cardboard slip-case. Although this DVD is stated as being Region 4, it is in fact encoded for Region 2 and 4.
Overall
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