The boys are back in town

What do you get when you combine a yacht, a Manila Bay sunset, specially prepared gourmet dishes and free-flowing champagne? A party worthy of Vincent Chase.

When I learned that HBO Asia was launching the fourth season of Entourage by throwing a yacht party, I was on deck faster than you can say “booze cruise.” As far as I was concerned, you throw in some drinks, good food, some A-list starlets (okay, none were present, but it’s a nice thought anyway.) and a ton of laughs courtesy of the boys from Entourage, and you have yourself a good time. And if we’ve learned anything from Vince and company from the past three seasons, life is nothing but one good time after another.

Being on that yacht as the sun set and my champagne glass was constantly being filled and emptied reminded me exactly why people find Entourage so fascinating. With that insiders peek that the show gives its audience, we are able to enter a world where excess is normal and the high-life is norm. For half an hour, you gawk in awe and envy at the lives that Vince (Adrian Grenier), Eric (Kevin Connolly), Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) lead. Season 4 promises more of the same grandiose Hollywood dreams but also presents some new working-class challenges for the group.

Season 4 of Entourage revolves around Vince’s dream movie Medellin, the Pablo Escobar story, and the struggles he has to deal with, being both the star of the film as well as its financier. Vince, although still one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, has decided to ante up his superstar lifestyle to pursue his dream role.

This is the first time we see Vince and Eric go all-in with their Hollywood cash and face very genuine concerns of going bust and losing it all. With so much hanging on this new film, Vince and Eric have to reign in their director Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro) as well as convince Vince’s agent Ari (Emmy winner Jeremy Piven) that the film will be a massive success so Vince won’t lose face with movie producers. Season 4 offers more tension, more problems and a glaring possibility of failure for the rich and famous movie star.

The new season will also have more prominent roles for super-agent Ari Gold as he balances his crisis-management skills between Vince’s movie and his own personal life, and for director Billy Walsh, as he deals with his creative insecurities and artistic idiosyncrasies. The strength of the show has never been the acting of Grenier and Connolly, but with more focus on an Emmy-winning actor and the surprisingly convincing performance of Rhys Coiro, the acting seems a bit more well-rounded.

As usual, Turtle and Drama provide comic relief for the refreshingly serious theme of this season. With both of them having fairly successful, steady jobs (Drama as one of the main characters on a hit TV show and Turtle as a rap producer), their independence from Vince has become the new goldmine of comedy. The one scene where Drama and Turtle are out buying baby wipes (for a party, because Drama is a neat-freak) and are mistaken for a gay couple shopping for their kid is priceless.

Entourage treats us to another peek inside the life of a Hollywood star and all the perks that come along with it. With this new season, we see that lifestyle threatened. It will be very interesting to watch which prevails — the boys’ wealth-preserving instincts, personified by Ari, or their dream-chasing spirit, personified by Walsh.

I’m all for chasing dreams, but once you’ve partied on a yacht like Vincent Chase, you’ll be hard-pressed to give that life up.

Entourage airs on HBO every Monday at 11 p.m. 

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For questions, comments or corrections please e-mail me at carlfrancisramirez@gmail.com.