Last we saw the “Entourage” boys, they were weathering the scathing reaction to Vincent Chase’s pet project, “Medellin,” at the Cannes Film Festival.
What could be worse than a booing audience?

An even more vicious dissection of the film by Richard Roeper, who eviscerates the movie on his TV show (which now no longer exists – but who knew that when this was filmed?) by saying it’s “overacted, under-directed…and a good bet for the top 10 worst of the year.”

Season five of “Entourage” (Sunday, 10 p.m. on HBO) begins with its usual caustic tone – this time, it’s the mean critics who know nothing…except when a movie that went straight to video is, indeed, a piece of garbage.

But Vince’s plummet from Aqua Man to Nowhere Man turns out to be exactly the kind of emotional curveball the show needed. So much of last season suffered from the gang’s complacent pomposity, and by humbling Vince and, by default, eager manager Eric, it stimulates a hunger in these guys that they had lost when success seemed so easy.

While E mopes and Johnny Drama ties himself to his laptop Web cam to stay in constant co-dependent contact with the French girl (Jacqueline) we think he hooked up with in Cannes (who can remember?), Vince is distracting himself from his first failure in the only way he knows how – by scoring chicks. Lots of them. On a remote Mexican island where he can look like Chewbacca in cutoffs and drink the days away with Turtle and the bevy of half-dressed women who probably couldn’t even spell “Medellin.”

Some things never change – and in the case of Ari Gold, that’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.

As usual, Ari, in his constant blur of spastic motion, is obnoxious, belligerent and hilariously abusive with his verbal torpedoes. Yeah, his eye is only on the final box office tallies, but, in his own oily way, he cares about Vince, and his first mission – with E – is to bring the boy back to land.

Vince, initially, is reluctant, choosing instead to tip back another bottle of tequila. But a tease from a major director for a major part in a major movie lures him back – and gets him to shave that awful face rug.

These spoiled guys aren’t used to living in, as Ari yells, “this post-‘Medellin’ world,’ and Vince quickly learns that having the football yanked away at the last second is something that will probably happen frequently.

By episode two, a chastened Vinny turns out to be quite an appealing one. When Ari bluntly tells him that he’s a great movie star, rather than a great actor, it’s a fine moment of, well, acting, from Adrian Grenier, whose wounded puppy reaction turns to I’ll-show-‘em’all defiance in a matter of seconds.
Now, Vince’s ambition is ignited, and even though he’s “in movie jail” – a Ralph Macchio whose career is on ice after one misstep – he’s at least realized that he has to make an effort to redeem himself.

So much of the fun of “Entourage” is its mimicking of Hollywood and in that regard, it’s as sharp as the first three seasons. Johnny’s dopey machismo is demonstrated with his usual bluster (his breakdown after not being able to reach Frenchie on the Web cam is especially amusing), and Turtle’s New-York-for-evuh loyalty to his crew reminds us of the steely bond among this quartet.

The show is also up to its usual standards on the cameo end, with show creator Mark Wahlberg making an appearance in the second episode, along with Tony Bennett playing himself, and Giovanni Ribisi and Lukas Haas as a couple of hick wannabe screenwriters whom E wants to represent.

With Fran Drescher, Kevin Pollack and Jeffrey Tambor scheduled to appear during this 12-episode run, this season is already superior to the last one.

Just keep giving us lots of Ari.

Posted by Melissa Ruggieri in • Entertainment • Television
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