Neal Justin: Rooting for the Hollywood underdogs in 'Entourage'

As "Entourage" opens its eighth and final season Sunday, we find movie star Vincent Chase declaring 90 days of sobriety and hoping to refuel his career.

Will Vince get back on top? Can he stay away from vodka and cocaine? Will he ever again bed a porn star?

The answer to each of these questions is the same: Nobody cares.

Adrian Grenier, who plays Chase with casual charm, is a fine actor and an even better documentary filmmaker -- you should catch his 2010 doc "Teenage Paparazzo," which examines the rise of a kid shutterbug -- but his character is too cool, too handsome, too popular for us to give a hoot about his troubles.

On the surface, the Emmy-winning comedy is about the ins and out of show business, based loosely on the career of executive producer Mark Wahlberg. It provides a behind-the-scenes peek at the lives of the rich and famous, from executive boardrooms to lavish parties, with a generous sprinkling of celebrity cameos and Hollywood-insider jokes. Its glamorous sheen has helped make it one of HBO's more popular comedies.

But "Entourage" has endured because its real focus is on the hangers-on -- Chase's ragtag team of childhood buddies trying to step outside of their boss' shadow and carve out their own personae.

No character has been more compelling than Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), who more than lived up to his name in the early years by crawling from one menial task to the next. His idea of success was getting the top score in "Halo 3."

Then there's Vince's brother, Johnny Drama -- played by Kevin Dillon, an actor who knows a little something about having a famous sibling (he's the older brother of Matt Dillon). He is so desperate to make it in the business that this season he's lending a voice to an animated series, "Johnny's Bananas," and putting up with co-star Andrew Dice Clay.

The heart of the show has always been Eric (Kevin Connolly), Vince's best friend and consigliere, who's on the hunt for true love, most notably his dream gal, Sloan, who may or may not walk down the aisle with him by the end of these final eight episodes.

I'm not forgetting agent Ari Gold, played with hurricane force by Jeremy Piven. The role may have earned Piven three Emmys, but it's basically comedy relief. If Ari's wife ran him over with a Porsche, we wouldn't even blink.

"Entourage" works best when it keeps the focus on the underdogs, the guys who still do a triple take at the models giggling by the swimming pool, who need to be locked at the hip with Vince to get into the hot new dance club, who are left waiting in an agent's office until he finishes sharpening his pencils.

This isn't the first showbiz sitcom to understand the importance of the little guy.

By the end of the series, Vincent Chase may be shooting "Aquaman 2," reuniting with porn star Sasha Grey and getting suited for the Oscars.

Good for him.

I'd rather see Turtle snag a decent girlfriend.