Review: ‘Entourage’ resurrects HBO series — for no apparent reason

“Entourage” is like the uninvited dinner guest who insists on sticking around long after the party’s over.

It’s based on the often amusing (2004-2011) inside-Hollywood HBO series of the same name, about a rising star who keeps his childhood posse around him as a protective bubble amid the sharks, clingers, wannabes and hangers-on in the movie business.

When the series wrapped, no one, as far as we could tell, believed it needed a further flourish. But that’s just what this movie, inspired by producer Mark Wahlberg’s experience in showbiz, attempts.

As the film opens, star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) pretty much has recovered from a quickie divorce and decided what he really wants is to direct and star in a futuristic “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” titled “Hyde.”

That will be a challenge for him and a big break for his loutish older half-brother, “Johnny Drama” (Kevin Dillon), who will play a juicy supporting role.

But his childhood pal “E” (for Eric), now Chase’s personal manager (played by Kevin Connolly), is distracted, since his ex-girlfriend, Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui), is pregnant. And being something of an L.A player, E is also a magnet for hot women that he and his buddies still pursue with sophomoric vigor.

So it’s up to Jeremy Piven’s character — Ari Gold, a super agent with anger issues — to come out of retirement, take over a studio and green-light “Hyde.” He should be able to make that work if only he can keep the Texas financier (Billy Bob Thornton) who owns a chunk of the picture out of the picture.

And then there’s the Texan’s drawling rube of a son, played as a redneck-savant, by Haley Joel Osment. These two are enough to make the supposedly mellowed Ari return to peak rage-aholic form. There will be no “kowtowing to cow tippers” on his watch, he fumes.

Everything you need to know about the movie has to do with the newcomers, who steal it: Osment and Thornton are a hoot, while Connolly, Dillon, Grenier and Jerry Ferrara aren’t. They’re playing older versions of the same shallow hounds they were in the series.

Turtle (Ferrara), who was initially just the chubby driver for the crew, has made a fortune of his own and lost weight, but still drives them around while enduring “weren’t you fat?” jokes. Turtle’s attempted courtship of a martial arts artist (Ronda Rousey, playing herself) shows us what screen presence and charisma look like: Rousey has them.

Writer-director Doug Ellin has caught on that the jokes, structure and cast that kept this show on the small screen simply aren’t enough for the big screen. So he fills every outdoor, party and restaurant shot with L.A.’s most gorgeous female extras, as temptations for the entourage.

And just as in the series, Ellin peppers the film with funny cameos — a cranky Jessica Alba, a raging Kelsey Grammer, Liam Neeson flipping off Ari in traffic, a pleading David Spade, musicians, DJs, athletes and actual moguls, including Wahlberg and his own “entourage” (who are not that funny).

The observations about the entertainment business are still on the money, but they were pretty much exhausted during the series. Who needs to see another humiliating Johnny Drama audition, even with Judy Greer?

Piven was the lone breakout star from the series, and the movie doesn’t really get rolling until he gets his dander up. But even Ari Gold can’t rescue this “Entourage” from his clients.