What would you do if you woke up and found yourself in a mansion atop the Hollywood hills, living with your superstar best friend, and suddenly have access to an endless amount of money? For the last eight seasons, this is what the HBO series Entourage dealt with. For the first time, however, the boys will not be back in town. The show became an interestingly light and usually fun portrayal of celebrity as well as a rags-to-riches story about the possibilities of the American Dream. Entourage had a good run, having its final episode this past Sunday. It is now time to look back at the series after fans of the show were forced to hug it out one last time, or will this be the last time?

I can’t say that I am pleased with the series finale. Sure, it ended happy and avoided the usual Hollywood downer ending. However, the final episode felt rushed as it tied up a few big stories in 30 short minutes. Ari (Jeremy Piven) got back together with his wife, Vince is leaving to marry Sophia (Alice Eve) and the boys helped Eric (Kevin Connolly) to get Sloan (Emanuelle Chriqui) back. In a final scene after the credit sequence we see Ari get offered the biggest job of his life, CEO of a major umbrella corporation. There is material left here for more seasons and the show didn’t even to give closure to the stories of Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Drama (Kevin Dillon), but I digress.

Regardless of my issues with the finale, all of Entourage’s spoiled brats grew into better people than those we first met in season one. Vince (Adrian Grenier) had many ups and downs, going from top grossing movie star to getting addicted to hard drugs and falling for porn star Sasha Grey. With the help of his friends Vince cleaned up and prevailed. Turtle and Drama grew up (ever so slightly) and slowly began to take responsibility for their lives. Eric remained the rock throughout the entire series. He was a sweet guy who always tried to do the right thing and kept all of the other characters in check. I will especially miss Eric’s verbal battles with Ari, another strong character.

Over the years, most of the character gave in to temptations that come with the fast and loose celebrity lifestyle. The difference is now Eric dealt with this, which is why he is such a pivotal character. Eric is the everyman that most of us would (hopefully) be if thrown into the Hollywood life, making mistakes but always striving to do good. Contrary to his friends, it is Eric that has a moral conscience, truly regretting all of his mistakes instead of laughing them off like the others do. The final season saw Eric giving up his agency in LA to live in New York to help his wife raise their child after she decided to move away.  It would be difficult to imagine Turtle, Drama or Vince doing that.

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There are certain things that make you a man.  It’s not a matter of mere plumbing or chromosomes.  A man is more than that.  A true man defeats his enemies.  A true man can make it happen with the ladies.  A true man can repeat, verbatim, all of the classic dialogue from Heat.

Heat (1995) is more than just a heist film – it’s an epic, a shambling three-hour monster of a movie that soars and frustrates, leaves your jaw hanging in awe and you scratching your head wondering what the hell is going on.  The star power it unleashes is literally unparalleled, the direction by Michal Mann is superb, the music is incredible (go buy the soundtrack now), and the cinematography creates a vision of Los Angeles that is more real than the reality.

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I will not insult your manhood by recapping the plot.  Actually, it’s so dense and convoluted it would take forever anyway.  Plus, there are the tangents that I still don’t fully get – what the hell is that whole Natalie Portman subplot doing in there anyway?  And some parts you just have to see for yourself – think Waingro’s plot line.  Bottom line: if you have never seen Heat, go buy it immediately.  Until you do, if you are biologically male, you are not entitled to stand while urinating.

For many of us, Heat has a personal connection that comes from both its time and place.  I saw Heat in Houston the day it came out (December 15, 1995), having been waiting for it for months thanks to the remarkable trailer.  I was there for a buddy’s wedding the next day; at that wedding, I would meet my hot wife for the first time.  About a month after, the giant law firm I was then slaving away for moved into the 444 South Flower building.  You probably know it best as the bank De Niro’s crew robs.  Before I quit (I had more business than many of the partners but they offered me the same crappy $500 bonus they gave to the guy caught sleeping under his desk, so I counter-offered that I’d keep everything), I must have walked past the spot where Val Kilmer first opens up with his CAR-15 a hundred times thinking, “Dude, I know where you’re coming from.” (more…)

“PCU” is not a great comedy, but its observations on political correctness run amuck on 1990s college campuses make it a pretty decent rental. The premise suggests a much funnier movie: Tom Lawrence (Chris Young) visits Port Chester University one weekend to determine if he wants to attend school there in the fall. Over the course of the weekend, he manages to alienate himself from every insane politically correct group on campus.

 
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Jeremy Piven is at his pre-Ari Gold best as Droz, something like a seventh year senior at Port Chester University college who is the unofficial leader of a group of campus misfits who live in a former fraternity house known as The Pit.

It’s a former frat house because fraternities have been banned from PCU, and the residents of The Pit are misfits because they are, gasp, regular people.

They are a collection of individuals, completely at odds with campus groups whose bonds are the result of a supposed shared identity, i.e., the radical feminists (the Womynists), the rich white guys (Balls and Shaft). Navigating the campus requires moving through a maze of protests and counter protests. The college president, Ms. Garcia-Thompson, is obsessed with multiculturalism and diversity, at one point suggesting that the Bi-Sexual Asian Studies program should have its own building on campus. The irony is, of course, that the denizens of the Pit are the most diverse group on campus. (more…)

The boys of “Entourage” are back for another round of inside Hollywood hijinks. But don’t cue the trumpets just yet. The first episode of the show’s seventh season, debuting tonight at 10:30 p.m. EST on HBO, might make viewers wish “Entourage” had taken the summer off.

Network shows often struggle to stay relevant after a few seasons, and even HBO’s iconic series “The Sopranos” couldn’t maintain its level of excellence over time. A few minutes into the first new “Entourage” episode shows the male-bonding formula is getting dog tired.

Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) is shooting a new action film, but the director’s demand for him to do his own stunts leaves him torn. Does he risk bruising his manhood, the coin of the realm in his buddy quartet, or does he go ahead knowing he could put his career – and well being – at risk?

Meanwhile, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) is learning that life as a small business owner isn’t a breeze. His prettiest driver can’t make an airport run without getting lost, but he doesn’t have the heart to can her. And Drama (Kevin Dillon) is still struggling to find that elusive TV gig to call his own. (more…)

In what is becoming an annual rite of self-destruction, Broadway has once again chosen to snub many of the big-name stars who have put their film careers on hold to trudge onto the boards eight times a week, take a significant pay cut, and run the risk of being ridiculed for being unable to cut the mustard as a theatre actor  (As Alan Swan famously said before having to appear on live television in “My Favorite Year”:  ‘I’m not an actor, damn you, I’m a movie star!’).  This week’s announcement of nominees for Broadway’s top prize, the Tony Award, was more newsworthy for the names left off the list than for the relatively unfamiliar names singled out for the honor. 

Nathan Lane and John Goodman are selling tickets hand over fist for their revival of “Waiting for Godot” but neither received the honor of a nomination.  Same with David Hyde Pierce, Frank Langella, Mary Louise Parker and Matthew Broderick. 

It was no surprise that Jeremy Piven was included out of the Best Actor category after his famous sushi defense for missing performances in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow,” but not honoring John Lithgow’s brilliant turn in “All My Sons” in the same category is a crime against humanity!  It ranks up there with the snub of Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman in the 1984 revival of “Death of a Salesman.” Brian Dennehy was honored with the Best Actor award when he did Willy Loman in 2000, but that goodwill did not anoint him worthy of a nomination this year for his turn in “Desire Under the Elms.”  (more…)

You are what you eat, I guess. 

It was the performance of Jeremy Piven’s life. Last week, he tearfully persuaded five fellow actors that he was deathly ill from mercury poisoning due to his lifelong love of sushi – and not merely slacking off with Britney – when he abruptly walked away from the Broadway production of “Speed-the-Plow.’’ I predict future actors will have “no raw fish” clauses attached to their contracts. Entire A-list restaurants will tremble at the loss of high-profile business. On the bright side, fish will live.

Piven dodged a financial bullet by pleading his case to a grievance committee of Actor’s Equity. He could not escape the hilarity that ensued over his fishy tale. As “Plow’’ playwright David Mamet joked to the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, “My understanding is he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.’’

This is why Piven is my latest “Celebutard of the Week,’’ in keeping with my new book, Celebutards: The Hollywood Hacks, Limousine Liberal and Pandering Politicians Who Are Destroying America. (more…)