(
)
Maybe it took eight sea sons for the guys to mature into their roles, or maybe it just took that long for me to enter my second childhood.
Whatever it is, when “Entourage” returns this Sunday night, it’s got one more fan: me.
Yes, I hated the show when it premiered way back when Jesus was still in swaddling Pampers, and my love didn’t grow with any of the succeeding seven seasons.
But this season, which is the show’s last on HBO, the scripts are richer than they’ve ever been, the acting is as good as it always should have been and the hyper-real Hollywood scenarios are more believable. Almost really believable, in fact.
OK, the plots are not something that would occur in any regular Joe’s life, but for the unregular Joes who actually do swim with the sharks in the muck and slime of Hollywood, the situations are the stuff of everyday.
The season opens with Vince (Adrian Grenier) ending a three-month stint in rehab, where he dreamed up a script about trapped miners and the American man and his dog who save them.
Meantime, Ari (Jeremy Piven) is desperate to get Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) back, and threatens to wreck the acting career of the waiter he assumes she’s involved with.
When he finds out that her new bedmate is really a (very) famous real-life chef/restaurateur, he goes bananas, screaming, “You’re dating a cook? He’s a redheaded fire crotch! A genetic mistake!”
Wait until you find out who the real fire crotch “cook” is.
Eric (Kevin Connolly) and his management partner Scott (Scott Caan) take on a down-on-his-luck Andrew Dice Clay. Why? Because Drama (Kevin Dillon) has asked Clay to co-star in an animated series with him, “Johnny’s Bananas.”
You will start out feeling terrible for Andrew Dice Clay (who is just terrific in the show — playing himself), but by Episode 3, you’re ready to kill him. After a single screening, without even a network to buy the show, he demands to renegotiate his and Drama’s salaries waaay up.
Also by Episode 3, you will realize that you are dealing with the very dark side of Hollywood. It begins to creep up when Vince reconnects at a 12-step meeting with the horrible Carl Ertz (Kim Coates) and things get very, very scary.
Piven and Dillon, of course, steal every scene. That you already know. But Caan and Coates manage to give two classic Hollywood stereotypes such real flesh and bones, that you’ll wish that Season 8 was the precursor to Season 9.
Best “Entourage” guest stars
Val Kilmer (as The Sherpa)
His hysterical gray beard and long locks are only matched by his infinite ramblings while smoking opium and pot with Vince and the boys.
Gary Busey
First, he threatens to kill Turtle after the latter accidentally destroys his art exhibit. Then, in exchange for an antique office desk, he gets to body paint Johnny Drama.
Bob Saget
Loveable “Full House” dad introduces the audience to his pot-smoking, brothel-loving side. Unforgettable line: “Vince, I know you can f-ck anyone in this town . . . but please, don’t f-ck my daughters.”
Seth Green
Transformed himself into the ultimate dirtbag by bragging about his numerous posh homes in Malibu and having sex with Eric’s girlfriend.
James Woods
After finding out Johnny Drama stole his guest passes for a huge movie premiere, Woods camps himself outside of the boys’ mansion and goes on a five-minute, profanity-laced tirade for the ages.
— Joseph Barracato