Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Audie England, Eric McCormack, Rafer Weigel
• Directors: Robert Meyer Burnett
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
• DVD Release Date: November 9, 1999
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00001TZ5Y
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,457 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Free Enterprise: Love Long And Party" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This modest but likeable movie is driven by a sincere love of the screenwriters' childhood kitsch, with Star Trek dominant above all--although Logan's Run, the X-Men, Planet of the Apes, and dozens of other science fiction touchstones of the 1970s have been worked in as well. Even an action figurine of almighty Isis, from the Saturday morning TV show, plays a major role in the plot, if plot is the right word. The story follows two guys on the fringe of the movie industry: Robert (Rafer Wiegel) edits movies like Teen Bimbo Beach Assault, while Mark (Eric McCormack from Will and Grace) is writing a screenplay about a serial killer who murders all the characters from The Brady Bunch. The movie touches on their career struggles but spends most of its time with their floundering love lives, suggesting that their pop-culture programming may not be the best model for life. The actors are clearly enjoying themselves, and the writing makes its innumerable pop references with wit, but what really makes the movie work is William Shatner. Shatner plays himself with affectionate but cutting self-mockery, simultaneously lampooning Star Trek obsessiveness and Hollywood egotism in general. Shatner displays not only a more subtle sense of humor than he's ever shown before, but also a surprising vulnerability. He may have alienated a lot of his fans when he did that Saturday Night Live sketch telling them to get a life ("It was just a TV show!"), but his performance in Free Enterprise may just win them back. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description
Free Enterprise is a dysfunctional love story about two avid "Star Trek" fans, Robert (Rafer Weigel) and Mark (Eric McCormack), who meet their idol, William Shatner, and discover he's nothing like his fictional counterpart. With their illusions shattered, the two friends must face their fears about the future in this contemporary comedy that combines the hip, L.A. romantic milieu of "Swingers," with the knowing pop culture sophistication of "Clerks." William Shatner, Rafer Weigel, Eric McCormack

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Tears for Shatner, March 30, 2004

By	Michael R Gates (Nampa, ID United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

21 of 23 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

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.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very needed film, June 5, 2000

By	Joseph Dewey (South Jordan, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.