To Be A Sundance Kid

At 13, in the middle of puberty, I had no idea where my life was going. One autumn night, I was in the living room, alone, and I found my older brother's Entourage Season 1 DVD. The cover was a group of cool, confident guys with a girl looking back at them, kind of looking like she wanted to fuck them. Naturally, my pubescent mind was intrigued.

That night was the first time I ever binge watched a show. I sat down to watch one episode and ended up watching the entire season. I was totally hooked by the offensive language, the steady stream of innuendos and nudity, and, over all of that, the celebrity lifestyle.

Entourage tells the story of Vinny Chase (Adrien Grenier), an up-and-coming movie star living in Hollywood with his two childhood friends, E (Kevin Connolly) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), and his half-brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon).

What I saw on screen that night was the representation of superfluous dreams that I'd conjured up in my 13-year-old mind. Imagine living in a mansion with your best friends, and you all get laid all the time, and you barely work, and your nights consist of smoking weed and sitting courtside for the Lakers. To my undeveloped mind, it was the dream. 

Life works in mysterious ways, and that night of binge watching, bizarrely, changed my life. It sparked my passion for the film industry, which has only intensified over time. Though now I look at Entourage through a very different lens, I cannot deny its influence and the fact that it inspired me to become what I am today.

But this isn't a challenge about the TV show that changed my life. It's about my G.O.A.T. episode. There is one episode of Entourage that, for me, stands out from all the rest. It's Season 2 Episode 7: "The Sundance Kids." It's the one where Vince and squad go to the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of Vince's new movie, Queens Boulevard. To me, it's the quintessential Entourage episode.

I think that the main strength of Entourage and what gives it a timeless quality, despite its misogyny, toxic masculinity, homophobia, and everything else that was prevalent in early-2000s culture, is its ability to give an honest portrayal of the Hollywood process. It shows the slow and gruelling process of getting a movie made. Vince's projects don't take episodes to develop — they take seasons. It provides this tantalizing, behind-the-scenes look at a movie star's life and though, yes, a lot of it is funny and glamorous, it's evident that there is a good deal of truth behind the fiction.

In the Sundance episode, the first breath of authenticity comes from the setting. Entourage was shot almost exclusively on location, and this episode is no different. Vince and the boys are in Utah, not some backlot in LA pretending to be a ski resort. Although it opens with crude jokes and discussions of macho competition, hidden behind the humour is the business. Vince, E, and Vince's agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), are expecting James Cameron to watch Queens Boulevard, with the hopes that he will cast Vince as the lead in his new movie, Aquaman. No, he didn't lose out to Jason Momoa. Proving the show's authenticity, this episode aired 13 years before the premiere of the real-life Aquaman. It's not the only time that this episode is ahead of the curve by over a decade.

In the airport bathroom, E runs into Harvey Weingard (Maury Chaykin), a very thinly veiled caricature of Harvey Weinstein. In 2025, being alone in a bathroom with a Weinstein-esque figure is nightmare fuel. Twenty years ago, it was a business opportunity.

This brings up a new problem for Vince. Does he wait for Cameron to see Queens Boulevard with the hopes that he'll like it, or does he take Weingard's deal as the lead in his new movie, which will surely be an Oscar contender?

The side plots of this episode are, unsurprisingly, sex related. Drama and Turtle chase after the same girl and wind up in their own version of Challengers. Vince and E party with two girls who, if I'm being honest, feel like they're only in the episode as eye candy. It's worth stating that this show comes from a Hollywood era where a predator like Weinstein was highly influential, and bad behaviour was often rewarded. Peter Dinklage, who has a cameo in this episode, is the only one keeping it real, and he even gets the chance to tell Harvey to go fuck himself. Once again, ahead by a decade.

The episode unfolds at a breakneck pace. A story that could have probably filled a short movie gets wrapped up in 26 minutes. With the short time frame, the episode can feel a bit like a blur, but doesn't that perfectly mirror the movie-star lifestyle? Everything happens quickly and nothing is savoured. Deals are made, broken, and remade in the stretch of an afternoon.

This episode is loaded with implications of where the show had been and where it was going. Queens Boulevard was the saga of Season 1 and Aquaman was the saga of Season 2. These two storylines intertwine in this mid-season episode, where Queens Boulevard finally gets its release and Vince secures the lead in Cameron's new picture. Then, after this episode, the Mandy Moore drama begins and that requires another whole article to unpack. "The Sundance Kids" ends the first era of Entourage and ushers in the second era — one where the contracts are bigger and the emotions are more dynamic.

If I had to show one episode of Entourage to someone who had never seen the show before, I'd show them "The Sundance Kids." It's one of those episodes that is kind of separate from the show's larger arc, mainly through its unique setting, and it perfectly encapsulates what the show is about. It has amazing music (a calling card of Entourage — I don't know what they spent on the music budget, but every episode is packed with bangers; this one includes "Crosstown Traffic" by Jimi Hendrix, among other hits). It is full of jokes and sex. On top of that, it provides an insider look at how the Sundance Film Festival works. The screenings are just a part of it. The real action happens in the night clubs and at "jerk-off meetings."

Although my dreams of one day being a Vinny Chase type have subsided, I still try to carve out my path in the entertainment industry. I find it strange that this dream of mine to work in film has its seeds in Entourage and its classic episodes like "The Sundance Kids." These days, I enjoy the show more for its insider look at Hollywood than the good looks of all the extras. Entourage, despite being a product of its time, is still one of the most entertaining shows HBO ever produced. An episode like "The Sundance Kids," for me, was more than just a way to pass half an hour. At 13, it was like a vision of the life that I dreamed of for myself. Even if it never came to fruition, I can always revisit the dream while planning my visit to next year's Sundance.

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