Tag: Jerry Ferrara

Entourage Movie Review

Vince, Eric, Drama, Turtle, and Ari are back in action in Entourage, the film that continues the HBO comedy that ran for eight seasons and concluded in 2011. Creator Doug Ellin handles the writing and directing duties and even producer Mark Wahlberg cameos (the show is based loosely on his experiences and his posse). When the show premiered, it had a nice run of being an entertaining novelty that allowed audiences to feel like bystanders watching a megastar and his buddies living the high life in Tinseltown. By about the midpoint of its existence, the show kind of ran out of steam. Simply put, said novelty started to wear and many of the principle characters simply weren’t interesting or three dimensional enough to sustain an eight year airing.

Unfortunately, Entourage: The Motion Picture does little to seem any different than a padded episode in the series later weaker seasons. To catch up: huge movie star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) is recently divorced after a nine day period of wedded bliss and looking to direct. His manager Ari (Jeremy Piven) secures $100 million plus for a strange looking sci fi/action rendering of Jekyll and Hyde dubbed “Hyde”. The fact that it goes over budget creates problems with the picture’s co-financiers, a wealthy Texas businessman (Billy Bob Thornton) and his sleaze bag son (Haley Joel Osment). Eric (Kevin Connolly) is still in his ongoing off and on romance with a very pregnant Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and sowing his oats during a break. Vince’s always struggling actor brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) is still struggling and living under his baby bro’s more attractive shadow. Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) is living the high life (literally and figuratively) from his thriving tequila business money and in a potential romance with Ronda Rousey.

We are treated once again to the glamorous life of this crew and their huge parties chock full of celebrity cameos, including a number of the New England Patriots. Like on the show, many of the genuinely funny moments do come from Piven’s always high strung Ari, including his therapy sessions with his long suffering wife. As for other performers, both Grenier and Connolly are a bit dull. Dillon’s Drama veers between humorous and annoying (as he did on HBO). Turtle is Turtle. And for those wondering about Haley Joel Osment after all these years, he doesn’t do himself many favors with this over the top Southern yokel part. If you truly loved the show, you might eat this up. Yet if you’re like me and believe it got long in the tooth, this will likely feel highly unnecessary.

** (out of four)

Entourage Box Office Prediction

Vinnie, E, Johnny Drama, Turtle and Ari go from the small screen to the big one as Entourage debuts in theaters this Wednesday. Based upon the HBO series that ran from 2004 to 2011, the studio is hoping to recapture the magic that allowed Sex and the City to become a huge silver screen blockbuster.

Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jeremy Piven and Jerry Ferrara reprise their aforementioned roles with Billy Bob Thornton and a host of celebrity cameos in the mix. They include Liam Neeson, Tom Brady and the show and picture’s executive producer Mark Wahlberg. Entourage may suffer from hurdles preventing it from becoming a success at the multiplex. First, while the show was acclaimed – many critics and viewers felt it had worn out its welcome and lost quality by the culmination of its pay cable run. Second, there’s another comedy in town premiering as Melissa McCarthy’s Spy looks to have a solid start. Its most hardcore fans should push it to a mid to high teens five day haul and it’ll likely fade soon afterwards.

Entourage opening weekend prediction: $11.2 million (Friday to Sunday), $16.5 million (Wednesday to Sunday)

For my Spy prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2015/05/30/spy-box-office-prediction/

For my Insidious: Chapter 3 prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2015/05/31/insidious-chapter-3-box-office-prediction/

Last Vegas Movie Review

Redfoo comes away the best in Last Vegas. Who’s Redfoo you ask? He’s one half of the hip hop party group LMFAO and he has a scene as a DJ for a bikini contest in the film. Redfoo will, for the rest of his life, be able to say he shared a scene with Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline. That bikini judging sequence is one of many obvious and comedically flat sequences in the picture. Yet for Redfoo, I suppose it’s pretty cool for him. The same cannot be said for the rest of the performers listed.

The film has been referred to as The Hangover for old guys and that’s a fairly accurate description. Douglas is a lifelong single man who finally decides to tie the knot with a woman less than half his age. His friends of 60 years are enlisted for a Vegas bachelor party. They are De Niro, who is a recent widower and whose late wife was involved in a love triangle long ago with Douglas’s character. There’s Freeman, whose family coddles him after he suffered a mild stroke. There’s Kline, whose sole character trait is that his wife gives him a weekend pass to sow his oats.

Once in Sin City, we experience every tired cliche one would expect to find in this type of material. The geezers are given the awesome suite due to Freeman’s gambling abilities. There’s amazement on their part about the price tags of bottle services in the club. Mary Steenburgen becomes the object of Douglas and De Niro’s affection as a lounge singer who they both manage to fall for in about 30 seconds. There isn’t a moment in Last Vegas that feels original or inspired. I didn’t expect this to reach much past the level of tolerable mediocrity, but it doesn’t even reach that unimpressive category.

50 Cent has a cameo as himself. He was supposed to stay in the Big Daddy suite and gets bumped for our grumpy old bachelor party. Even 50 gets the short shrift though as he doesn’t get to share air time with these legendary actors who are seriously slumming it. That honor, once again, belongs to Redfoo. He gets a good story out of Last Vegas’s existence. The audience? Not so much.

*1/2 (out of four)

Think Like a Man Too Box Office Prediction

This Friday we will see if Kevin Hart’s terrific 2014 continues with Think Like a Man Too, the sequel to his surprise 2012 near blockbuster. The original got off to an impressive $33 million opening two years ago on its way to a $91M domestic gross. This is especially strong considering it cost a reported $12 million to produce. Since that time, Hart’s drawing power at the multiplex has only increased as this January’s Ride Along debuted to $41 million and the ensemble piece About Last Night made $25 million out of the gate in February.

With a supporting cast including Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrera, Gabrielle Union, Regina Hall, Meagan Good, and Taraji P. Henson – Think Like a Man Too should succeed in bringing in African-American audiences and particularly females who made up 63% of the original’s opening weekend gross. There is one difference between this and the original and Ride Along – there is much more competition with its summer release. In particular, the second weekend of 22 Jump Street will still be bringing in the comedy crowds.

I believe Man Too should outshine the premiere gross of its predecessor but won’t quite reach Ride Along‘s level. It could surpass my expectations and a gross of $45 million wouldn’t shock me, but I’m going with high 30s for my prediction.

Think Like a Man Too opening weekend prediction: $38.2 million

For my Jersey Boys prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/06/15/jersey-boys-box-office-prediction/