Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

Season Grade: B-
DVD Features Grade: A-
Overall Grade: B+

Entourage: Season Five is by far and away my favorite year of this saga of the boys from Queens who make good in Hollywood because unlike previous years, bad things actually do happen to them in their fifth year! For four straight years we sat back and watched as everything magically worked out for them despite enormous odds and frankly it got really annoying. But now, it’s the reverse. It seems like no matter what they do they keep ending up on the losing end of the stick and I just love it!

We begin on some topical island in Mexico where x-superstar Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) has entered a self imposed exile from the world following the dismal failure that was his passion project, Medellin. With trusty pal Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) by his side ever ready and eager to enjoy his cast offs the two try to hide from real life until an urgent call from super agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) and best friend Eric Murphy (Kevin Connelly) persuade them to return and face the music.

The season is full of sad opportunities for the once powerful respected actor like Sweet 16 appearances, fashion photo shoots and a string of general meetings with studios heads that yielded nothing but an offer to star in a Benji in Alaska movie. Vince is finally forced to accept the possibility that he may not be as good of an actor as he thought he was and that his cavalier attitude toward the business side of things may very well have cost him his future. It’s definitely the most compelling of the seasons and finally gives poor Turtle and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) the chance to seem successful by comparison.

Drama still has his TV show though I do think successful Drama is a bigger prick than washed up Drama as he now actually has some power behind his pathetic ego tripping indulgences. In previous years you could feel sorry for him because he insisted on everything being a certain way but never got anything close to it. Now that he can have things his way he’s just annoying to watch.

Turtle on the other hand while not successful in any way shape or form finally manages to find a girl that likes him and turns out to be none other than Jamie-Lynn Sigler of Sopranos fame. It’s nice to see Turtle happy for a little while even though we know the inevitable break up is right around the corner.

E is still struggling to make a career for himself outside of working with Vince but runs into some Seth Green type problems along the way; all in all though he manages to stand a little taller, figuratively speaking of course, this year to be more of his own man and enters into an interesting place in his friendship with Vince where for once ...