Entourage: Season 5 [DVD] [2009]

HBO presents Entourage, the hit comedy series executive produced by Mark Wahlberg that takes a look at the day-to-day life of Vincent (Vince) Chase, a hot young actor in modern-day Hollywood, and his entourage.

Entourage’s fifth season leaves our movie star in a pickle: his big Oscar shot, Medellin, is a dismal failure, and Vincent (Adrian Grenier) has burrowed away to Mexico to drown his sorrows in booze and women. How does a once-promising actor get his confidence, legitimacy, and bankability back? That’s the key premise this time around, and like some of its previous seasons, is always more interesting when Vince is struggling than when he’s on top. Once his crew–manager Eric (Kevin Connolly), big brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), agent Ari (Jeremy Piven), and driver Turtle (Jerry Ferrara)–convince Vince to get back in the game, he finds many once-welcoming doors closed. He eagerly takes a meeting with Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont (playing himself), only to feel insulted when he finds it’s for a TV pilot. (His subsequent options? Appearing at a Sweet Sixteen party and doing a Benji movie.) Once a promising script about firefighters (called Smokejumpers) piques Vince’s interest, ensuing episodes become a complex chess game of job-hopping, backdoor-dealing, and back-scratching, which is always Entourage’s strength. As Vince watches his star fade, Grenier gets a chance to let his sunny optimism crack, even sitting in Ari’s office and begging to be told he’s a good actor.