TV Review: The Entourage Boys Hit Vegas, Literally

The fellas of HBO's Entourage – Vince, E, Turtle, Johnny Drama, and their Type A talent agent-meets-Dungeon Master Ari – and Vegas are clearly made for one another.

Now that Vince (Adrian Grenier) is a legitimate superstar on the heels of Aquaman's box office-busting success, the writers must find ways to throw a wrench into the good times to keep things interesting. In recent weeks, the wrenches have been manifesting themselves fast and furious, as Vince has managed to get himself fired from the cash cow Aquaman franchise (over a squabble involving Vince's desire to have his Scarface moment and play a coke lord) and most recently publicly bashed the Hollywood establishment for colorizing and re-cutting his hometown indie flick, Queens Boulevard.

So what's left to do besides heading to Vegas to let the good times roll?

The excuse was the call of cash, as Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) – who seems to be coming into his own as a wheeler dealer music manager of sorts – hooked up a $100,000 payday in Sin City. Of course, it involved an obligation to judge a stripping contest, which has the prospect of further damaging Vince's reputation. Turtle, who is the "most Queens" of the foursome and usually the one who gets to drop the best one-liner of the episode, spent his time wooing and manipulating the contestants in the stripping competition.

Surprisingly, Ari (Jeremey Piven) – who was dragged along for the trip to "chaperone" the boys (and who mock-sadly had to tell his wife he was forced to miss seeing Menopause: The Musical with her and her parents) – was less concerned about Vince's public perception than by getting his vacation (or vay-kay) on and hitting the tables. Piven, who is always a joy to watch, is great fun as he throttles Gold's Type A personality from work to play with nary a change in intensity level. Once Vince and Ari had arranged a "betting partnership," we were treated to grimaces of horror aplenty as Vince nonchalantly sinks the pair deeper and deeper into a pile of debt. Fun moments included Vince casually mentioning they probably shouldn't go down more than $500,000, and Ari on the verge of a breakdown after a tourist sitting next to Vince at the blackjack table splits a pair of kings. It was also interesting to watch Ari and E hanging out, friends now, two veterans of the Hollywood scene slinking off to Vegas away from their significant others' prying eyes.

Article Author: Eric Berlin

Eric Berlin is the publisher of Online Media Cultist. He's also prone to referring to himself in the third person in author bios in an attempt to make it look like someone Less Important wrote it for him.
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