Well, “Entourage” may have gotten bigger, but it certainly isn’t better.

“Entourage” is a continuation of the TV series of the same name, and stars the main cast, including Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, and Jeremy Piven. When movie star Vince Chase (Grenier) goes over budget on his directorial debut, agent-turned-studio head Ari Gold (Piven) must secure financing from a billionaire investor (Billy Bob Thorton). Showrunner Doug Ellin writes and directs.

I was late on the “Entourage” bandwagon but once I watched it, it instantly became one of my favorite all-time series, and Piven’s Ari Gold remains one of the best characters television has ever produced. So for the past six months I have been waiting patiently (or impatiently) for the feature length adaption. I loved the show, I love Hollywood, I love Los Angeles; what would go wrong? The answer: apparently a lot.

Throughout its run people referred to “Entourage” as “Sex and the City” for guys, and that point is even further emulated because now we have a feature length film adaption of a series that clearly did not have the substance to become a feature length film adaption. There is the overarching plot of Vince’s film, but really most of the movie is just scattershot. Each character has a side mission or two that they get to go on, and it almost always ends with them shaking it off and saying, “well, it’s no big deal”, which makes you realize that side story was only in the film to get the running time up to an acceptable theater amount.

There is one part where an embarrassing video gets leaked online of one of the characters, and they are ignoring the other guys’ calls and go into the doctor’s office screaming about how they’re sad and desperate. But they then get one phone call (about an event they knew was coming), and suddenly are all peaches and cream. It is just unfulfilling.

The biggest problem I probably had with “Entourage,” however, is that is just isn’t that funny. Look, I love comedies; some would say to a fault (I still stand by my recommendation of “Let’s Be Cops”). But this movie, despite Ari’s offensive rants and the two dozen celebrity cameos, just didn’t have me cracking up all too often. And many of the times I did laugh, it was because of a reference to the show, so viewers who go in cold having never seen an episode will not get the joke.

The film looks great, that I can’t deny. Every shot is colorful, sun-kissed, and neon-soaked, and it makes this pretty to stare at if nothing else. It will certainly please people like me who are obsessed with Los Angeles.

Seeing the old faces was comforting, but overall, I am hugely disappointed with “Entourage.” It was clear in season eight of the show that they were running out of stories to tell, so maybe that should have been an indication to retire the franchise there.

The “Entourage” movie is like a high school reunion: you show up wanting to see some old friends, but after a half hour things start to get stale, and you realize that you just don’t have much to say. Only difference is “Entourage” is that friend who forces a conversation for an hour and 44 minutes.

Critics Rating: 4/10

Variety