We’ve been forced to confront something unpleasant since we began recapping “Entourage:” it’s not a very smart show. Perhaps on some level we always knew this but were sufficiently distracted by the male fantasy aspects: the beautiful, willing women; the free-wheeling lifestyle celebrated by Vince and his buddies; the fact that male friends can hang out together without requiring three weeks of advance scheduling.Kurutz points out quite correctly that by making the characters grow apart and mature, "we’re left with slight plots that illuminate shallow lives." Not only do the characters seem bored by this (Vince doesn't seem all that excited to be having an awesome party at his place and Johnny finally seems to be getting his career off the ground but seems ambivalent towards it), but the writers and casting seem bored as well.
The celebrity cameos which were fun and cool in the first few seasons are now ingrained into the plot and too self-referential at times to be enjoyable. The celebrities they get dryly recite lines that are sometimes not even comprehensible (sorry A.P., you're a great running back, but that was you this past week). The only person who ever seems to make it work is Bob Saget*--but even his "dirty old man" bit has been overplayed (and I can watch him do his The Aristocrats bit multiple times so that says a lot). Entourage must have ran out of celebrities for walk on rolls so now their auctioning them off for us regular folk. They bring on new talent who can't act (Dania Ramirez as Turtle's former employee Alex is an awful actress). The stars on the show even seem so bored that they're investing in Albany restaurants to keep their lives occupied.
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