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Getting the skinny on the Hollywood lifestyle

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jul 27, 2007, Page 17

Vince and the boys enjoy the good life of excess, Hollywood style, in another season of Entourage. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF HBO

Vince and the boys haven't changed much since Season One, but Entourage itself has matured remarkably. OK, Season Three is still about a bunch of superficial and opportunistic young men hustling their way through a Hollywood dolce vita, but there is enough snappy dialogue and acute characterization to make the whole deal worthwhile.

It is sometimes difficult to work out whether to like or hate Entourage. The relentless superficiality and materialism of the lives it portrays can sometimes seem intolerable. These are people with everything, but they continually need more, whether it is money, girls, cars, fame, or the pampering of already over-enlarged egos. But this is also, unashamedly, part of the attraction.

What sets Entourage apart from the many films and series based around the glamorous world of Hollywood film stars and moviemaking, is that while it portrays a Hollywood full of daydream glitz, gorgeous girls and wet dream automobiles, it remains fundamentally clear-eyed about it all. The cynicism, pettiness and naked greed that drives life in Hollywood is right out there at the forefront, even in the show's most sympathetic characters, and is often the key to the show's humor.

Another trick that Entourage pulls off is in bringing massive star wattage into the mix, playing fiction off against real life, drawing in a host of real life celebs for cameos, including Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Alba, Scarlet Johansson, Val Kilmer, Bob Saget, Bai Ling, James Cameron, Mandy Moore, Brooke Shields and James Wood, often playing themselves. This kind of guest star lineup is not only calculated to appeal to the star struck, but also gives Entourage a self-referential sophistication that seems to say: "Perhaps I am superficial, but I'm in the VIP box with the Hollywood movers and shakers, so what the hell." Entourage invites you to laugh at the shenanigans of these rich, pampered people, but the laugher it tries to elicit is tinged with admiration at the outrageous excess of the world these people inhabit.

Series notes Entourage Season 3 (20 Episodes) On HBO: Monday to Oct. 1, Mondays two half-hour episodes from 11pm to 12 midnight On HBO Signature: Monday to Aug. 8, daily two half-hour episodes from 10pm to 11pm

Then there is super agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), who is the heart and soul of the show for many regulars, even more so than pretty boy Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), whose hangers-on are the entourage of the title. The show's least admirable character, he has all the best lines.

In the last two seasons, Vince's star has been rising gradually. Now, at the beginning of Season Three, he stands on the cusp of super-stardom, having an Almost Famous moment on the roof-top of a frat party as the box office figures for his film "Aquaman" look likely to rival those of Spiderman. On the back of this success, hangers-on Turtle and Johnny set out to get girls with an often humorous lack of success, but also with a degree of callous calculation that by all rights should be utterly despicable.

The series has managed to maintain this level of moral ambivalence over two series now, and in a sense is truly hitting its stride, for while Vince and the boys are a long way from being admirable human beings, they are definitely human, and we can sympathize with their foibles, even if we might also despise them slightly for having it so easy.

Entourage, with its narrow focus in and around the Hollywood hills - going down into the Valley is a major excursion for the boys - is ideal for those who can play spot the celeb and pick their way through the intricate web of Hollywood gossip and movie-making references, but for those not quite so much in the know, there is plenty of eye candy and some quality writing to keep you entertained.

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