ENTOURAGE

On American tv "Entourage" ran for seven years (2004-2011)  revolving around rising film star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his close friends and business team. The tv version was loosely based on executive producer Mark Wahlberg's real-life experiences as an up-and-coming, in-demand celebrity. Four years after the gang flew into the sunset headed for Vince's impulsive Paris wedding, "Entourage" has made the journey to the big screen. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with TV-to-cinema transitions, success is an elusive commodity. Written and directed by show creator Doug Ellin, the film painfully contrived, and so over-the-top, lazily relies on the good will of undiscriminating fans who will be happy regardless just by seeing the cast back together again while Ellin ups the misogyny to new levels.

Eight months after Vince's hasty marriage annulment, he is putting the finishing touches on his directorial debut, "Hyde," a $100-million futuristic retelling of "Jekyll and Hyde." Now a studio head who has put his reputation on the line to bankroll the project, producer Ari is nervous to see if he has a hit or a flop on his hands. With the budget ballooning and Vince needing an additional $15-million to complete the film, Texas father-son co-financiers Larsen (Billy Bob Thornton) and Travis McCredle (a now overweight and barely recogniseable Haley Joel Osment) have said that they will only cough up the extra dosh if they like what they see. Travis' post-screening notes are extensive, but his sticking point is Vince's older brother, Johnny 'Drama' Chase (Kevin Dillon), whose small but pivotal role he wants cut. Vince's best friend and manager, Eric 'E' Murphy (Kevin Connolly), has his own issues; on-again-currently-off-again girlfriend Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) is days away from giving birth to their first child when he learns that one of his rebound girlfriends, Melanie (Sanina Gadecki), may also be pregnant. As for Vince's driver, self-made entrepreneur Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), he has his eyes on professional MMA fighter Ronda Rousey (as herself) and he's willing to do whatever it takes to win her over—including facing her in the ring.

The whole thing is insipid and unsatisfying in the extreme and amounts to a pretty worthless continuation. Picking up with characters who, judging by what has found its way in front of the camera, had nowhere left to go, writer-director Doug Ellin has built his film on prefabricated story threads that either come off as afterthoughts or check the box on "momentous occasions," like having a baby and getting married (the latter's ceremony shoved all the way into the middle of the end credits and then treated as a joke). The earnest, lovelorn E is a leering creep who ogles scantily-clad ladies in a swimming pool while talking about his hard-on and sleeps with two women in a 24-hour people carrier while holding out hope he and Sloan might one day reconcile. Turtle's pursuit of Ronda shows promise—they are a likeable pair, and she is especially ingratiating in her own take-charge way—but their precious few scenes lack substance because the script doesn't allow their relationship to go anywhere.

It is in the central narrative where the film most egregiously misses the mark. The failure of "Hyde" could very well make or break Ari at the studio. When he finally sits down to watch it, the clip shown looks abominable, a synthetic, self-indulgent fiasco.  If this weren't preposterous enough for a picture that resembles a mid-'90s, possibly direct-to-video release, the pay-off in the final moments are so at odds with reality that it feels like nothing more than an annoying dream. If the TV series of "Entourage" boasted at the time of being an authentic depiction of the entertainment industry, the film jumps into wish-fulfillment fantasy now, that isn't honest with its characters, the world they live in, nor any demographic cinema audience.