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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Tears for Shatner, March 30, 2004
This review is from: Free Enterprise: Love Long And Party (DVD)
In this hilarious indie film--very loosely based on the real-life experiences of scripters Mark Altman and Robert Burnett--STAR TREK's William Shatner is cast in the role he was born to play--William Shatner. Mark (Eric McCormack of TV's WILL & GRACE) and Robert (Rafer Weigel) are 20-something science-fiction geeks employed at the fringes of the movie industry--Mark edits a movie-fan magazine that is an obvious take-off on FANGORIA and STARLOG; Robert is a film editor at a direct-to-video film studio called Full Eclipse, a blatant parody of the real-life studio Full Moon--who one day run into their childhood hero, William "Captain Kirk" Shatner, at a purely chance meeting in a second-hand bookstore. But their mental image of Shatner is shattered when they see that the STAR TREK icon is not like his on-screen persona but is, in reality, just another egocentric actor with numerous human foibles. Nonetheless, Mark and Robert are still smitten enough to pursue a friendship with "Bill" and promise to use their influence in "the industry" to help him get his pet project off the ground. And that project is? Well, it seems that Shatner wants to create a musical version of Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR in which the actor will play all the parts himself. (When Mark and Robert point out that playing both Caesar and Brutus means that Shatner will have to stab himself in the back, the actor replies, "So? I've done it before.") Along the way, all three "boys" do a bit of maturing and start to grow beyond their prolonged childhoods. Robert gains a love interest (played by beautiful actress Audie England) and starts to take his career seriously; Mark gets over his "mid-life" crisis and accepts the fact that his 30th birthday draws nigh; and Bill's romancing of a pretty club owner (Deborah Van Valkenburgh, of TV's TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT) helps deflate his ego a bit. The script for FREE ENTERPRISE is well written and witty, the talented cast delivers humorous yet warmly empathetic performances, and the high production values make this indie film look like it was produced on a larger budget and at a mainstream studio. The film has also won numerous awards, including Best New Writer(s) and Best Director at the 1998 AFI Film Fest, the Audience Award at the 1999 Newport Beach Film Festival, and the Saturn Award for the year 2000 from The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Yet FREE ENTERPRISE has never had a massive following and, consequently, has never fared too well financially. On one hand, it's not too hard to understand why this feature never became a MAINSTREAM hit. The dialogue is replete with SF, Fantasy, Comic Book, and Horror references that are too esoteric for non-genre viewers, and William Shatner's outrageously self-deprecating performance will mean little to anyone unfamiliar with the STAR TREK mythos. On the other hand, that specificity is what makes the film so thoroughly enjoyable and endearing to hard-core genre fans. So it is reasonable to conclude that, being geeky fanboys themselves, Burnett and Altman created FREE ENTERPRISE not as a lucrative commercial venture--despite the capitalistic title--but rather as a gift to all the other geeky genre fans out there. Hard-core genre fans will get a real kick out of watching FREE ENTERPRISE, and the DVD from Pioneer Video is a must-own for any serious collector of SF and STAR TREK films. Although the widescreen transfer is letterbox and not anamorphic, the transfer is nonetheless beautifully crisp, the colors appear accurately balanced, and very few, if any, digital artifacts or filmic artifacts are noticeable. And the disc is packed with cool extras, including a feature commentary from filmmakers Burnett and Altman, a making-of featurette, and the outrageous Bard-inspired rap video by William Shatner and hip hop artist Rated R.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The funniest movie ever made by s-f fans, for s-f fans!, November 4, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Free Enterprise: Love Long And Party (DVD)
Be careful what you wish for! Mark and Robert, two long-time Star Trek fans, have suffered most of their lives for their love of their favorite television program. Back in school, their classmates beat them up for their devotion to the fictional Captain Kirk and the actor who played him. Now, approaching their dreaded thirtieth birthdays, the two wannabe filmmakers (and devoted collectors of action figures) still don't fit in. Neither can maintain a relationship with a girlfriend. Could it have something to do with the fact that nearly everything they say contains some reference to "Star Trek" or other science-fiction classics? Certainly not! Still, when Mark and Robert chance to meet actor William Shatner in a Los Angeles bookstore, they're in for a rude awakening. To their horror, they find their idol is a womanizing egomaniac whose dream is to play all the parts in a one-man musical production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." (All the parts, except that he wants Sharon Stone to play Calpurnia. Or if Sharon isn't available, then maybe Heather Locklear.) "Free Enterprise" is a modest, independently-produced romantic comedy, written by science-fiction film columnist Mark Altman and film editor Robert Meyer Burnett (who also directed), both of whom fiercely deny that the film is in any way autobiographical. Their love of Star Trek and science fiction film is evident in every scene of this quirky, sometimes bizarre tale, which seems to have been made without any cooperation (or interference) from Paramount Studios. William Shatner shows himself to be a heretofore unsuspected comic genius who takes delight in poking fun at his public image. And his rap music version of Marc Antony's "Et tu, Brute" speech had me laughing so hard that I'll have to watch the movie again just to see if I missed anything. Although "mainstream" viewers will certainly enjoy the film's comedic plot, hardcore science fiction fans will take special delight in "Free Enterprise"'s many subtle (and not-so-subtle) in-jokes. My personal favorite was Shatner's botched pick-up line, delivered to a beautiful woman, a classic Kirk speech from "Conscience of the King." (Oddly enough, it didn't work anywhere near as well for Shatner as it did for Kirk.) On the other hand, I didn't notice (until a friend pointed out to me) that all the drinks in a bar were green, which seems to be a clever reference to Scotty's immortal "it's green" line. Other gags include references to such fan favorites as "Logan's Run," "Star Wars," "Planet of the Apes," "Wonder Woman," and even "Buckaroo Banzai." Even the end titles are full of tiny jokes buried in the credits. The DVD version has a beautiful letterbox transfer and lots of great behind-the-scenes material in the supplement. Especially interesting is the commentary track, as well as an alternate caption track that footnotes the sources of many of the film's delightful in-jokes. Unlike a recent "documentary" that tries to portray Star Trek fans as freaks, "Free Enterprise" is surprisingly well-done, and made with obvious affection for Star Trek fans, as well as for Star Trek itself. It's the funniest movie ever made for science fiction fans, by science fiction fans.
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30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very needed film, June 5, 2000
This review is from: Free Enterprise: Love Long And Party (DVD)
I love watching old science fiction movies. I love quoting my favorite parts from these movies. This is not a star trek film. This is not a William Shatner film. This is a film about people like me. The film is basically about a group of 4 or so friends, who are science fiction junkies. It talks about their jobs, their girlfriends, and their obsession with science fiction memorabilia and movies. They bump into Shatner, who turns out to be pretty messed up, and they discuss Shatner's obsession with the play Julius Caesar. Trek fans, be warned-Bill Shatner's appearance is minimal. This film was very needed, mostly to help people like me understand that I'm not losing my mind. This is a constant danger if you quote, revel in, and fantasize about too much science fiction. The main characters of this film do exactly that. And, even though they are not the most likeable people, they are likeable enough, and reasonably complex characters. I loved the incessant references to various science fiction shows and movies. Logan's Run could possibly be the best Sci-Fi movie of all time, and there were just about as many references to each of Logan's Run, Star Trek, and Star Wars. However, there are references to dozens of other science fiction movies. As a final note, I always enjoy movies like this that use a vast vocabulary.
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