''Free Enterprise'' is a 1999

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film starring

Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian and American actor known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers (TV series), Travelers'', and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the T ...

and

Rafer Weigel Rafer Weigel (born May 5, 1969) is an American broadcast journalist who most recently was an early morning weekday news anchor and general assignment reporter at WFLD-Channel 32 in Chicago. Formerly, he was the weekend sports anchor and reporte ...

, and featuring

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

, directed by

Robert Meyer Burnett Robert Meyer Burnett (born May 15, 1967) is an American filmmaker, DVD producer, online film pundit and YouTuber. Burnett directed ''Free Enterprise (film), Free Enterprise'' and the short film ''The Sacred Fire''. He has also edited over ten feat ...

and written by Mark A. Altman and Burnett.

Plot

The film deals with the mid-life crises of its two main protagonists, Mark (

) and Robert (

), fictionalized versions of the film's director and producer/writer. The two friends struggle with adult career and relationship problems, all the while defiantly clinging to the geeky science fiction

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

of their youth and seeking advice from their greatest hero,

. Shatner plays a campy caricature of himself as he works on a one-man musical version of ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'' in hopes of finally being taken seriously as a dramatist and musical performer. Hip-hop artist "The Rated R", joined by Shatner, provides the concluding musical number "No Tears for Caesar", a pastiche of famous lines from the play set to a rap rhythm. The film's score was produced by Scott Spock.

Cast

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

** Spencer Klein as young Robert * Audie England as Claire *

as Bill *

Phil LaMarr Phil LaMarr is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV'', where he stayed for five seasons. His voice acting roles in animated series include the Sam B of ' ...

as Eric * Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Marlena * Thomas Hobson as Richard * Jennifer Sommerfield as Tricia *

Jonathan Slavin Jonathan Slavin (born November 8, 1969) is an American actor. Early life Slavin was born in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Career Slavin portrayed illustrator Andy Richter Controls the Universe#Character ...

as Dan *

Patrick Van Horn Patrick Van Horn (born March 17, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Sue in the 1996 film '' Swingers'', starring alongside real-life friends Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston. He had previously appeared in th ...

as Sean *

Lori Lively Lori Lively is an American actress, television co-host/designer, and acting coach. She is best known for ''Dead Space'' (1991). Early life Lori Lively is the first born to talent manager Elaine Lively () and her first husband Ronald Otis L ...

as Leila * Holly Gagnier as Laura Hafermann * Ellie Cornell as Suzanne Crawford * Marilyn Kentz as Gail, Mark's mom * Diana Cignoni as Illa * Sharon Leibowitz as Sharon * Daniel Schweiger as Schweiger * Mickey Cassidy as Bully

Production

Kay Reindl, a friend of Mark A. Altman and Robert Meyer Burnett, and a television writer on ''

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

'' and ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'', felt that they could make a film out of their clique's obsession with ''Star Trek''. Burnett remembered that one day Altman called him and read a scene where he was beaten up in junior high school for wearing a ''Trek'' uniform. William Shatner appeared to him as a vision and told him to fight back. Altman wrote the first draft and then Burnett rewrote it. When Altman and Burnett approached Shatner about being in ''Free Enterprise'', he was not interested: "I had played my irkpersona as far as I wanted to go and probably as far as anybody wants me to go." Undaunted, Altman and Burnett tweaked his character to be more like

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was an English actor known for his leading roles on stage and screen. His numerous accolades include the Academy Honorary Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Golde ...

's in '' My Favorite Year''. They also incorporated several anecdotes from Shatner's actual life.

Release

''Free Enterprise'' had a tiny theatrical release in only nine

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

theaters in 1998 with little promotion. Burnett said, "Nobody went to see it. It was really disheartening". In his review for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Kevin Thomas said that the film brought "new life into the Hollywood-set romantic comedy genre" and was "funny, sharp and engaging". The '' L.A. Weekly'' said it was a "very funny, likable comedy about geeks in love". In her review for the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', Jen Chaney praised "the often funny and, strangely enough, sometimes touching performance by Shatner."

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a score of 83% based on reviews from 24 critics.

Awards

The film won four awards, including the 2000 ''

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

'' for Best Home Video Release. A new 2-disc

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

special edition ''Free Enterprise: Extended "Five Year Mission" Edition'' was released on March 7, 2006.

Popular culture references

The film is laced with references to past and contemporary science-fiction films and television series, such as ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' and ''

Logan's Run ''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusian future society in which both population and the consumption of resources ...

''. Most prominent is '' Star Trek: The Original Series'', which is treated by the protagonists as a source of inspiration and moral guidance. ''Free Enterprise'' explores the dating scene for late

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

Hollywood singles from a decidedly sardonic perspective. The credits are laced with references and spoilers.

Soundtrack

The original motion picture soundtrack for ''Free Enterprise'' was released on June 15, 1999 by Nettwerk Records under the Unforscene Music imprint. # Jerry Van Rooyen – The Great Robbery #

Frankie Goes to Hollywood Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). Johnson and Ruther ...

–

Welcome to the Pleasuredome ''Welcome to the Pleasuredome'' is the debut studio album by the English band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released on 29 October 1984 by ZTT Records. Originally issued as a vinyl double album, it was assured of a UK chart entry at numbe ...

# David Garza – Glow in the Dark #

Bertine Zetlitz Bertine Axeliane Robberstad Zetlitz (born 9 April 1975) is a Norwegian pop singer. Career Bertine Zetlitz began her musical journey at a young age, penning her first numbers aged just 12. After gaining a background in classical music, Zetlitz be ...

– Apples and Diamonds # Sumack – Metaphysical #

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

– Planet Earth # Weed – If Only U Could See #

Shriekback Shriekback are an English rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and the League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of Gang of Four (bass guitar), with Carl Marsh, formerl ...

– Underwaterboys #

Madeleine Peyroux Madeleine Peyroux (born April 19, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album ''Carele ...

– (Getting Some) Fun Out of Life # Povi – Dragonflies # Manufacture feat.

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing (album), Surfacing'' (1997), for which she won two G ...

– As The End Draws Near #

The Cult The Cult are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury ...

– She Sells Sanctuary #

, Rated R – No Tears for Caesar # (Unlisted Bonus Track) William Shatner – William Shatner's Self-Effacing Tale

Sequel

A sequel called ''Free Enterprise: The Wrath of Shatner'' was in pre-production. Interviewed at Comic-Con 2011, director Robert Meyer Burnett admitted that earlier in the year, funding for the sequel was pulled two days before filming, but says that the project is not dead.

References

External links

* * *
In depth review of the Extended Edition
—by Philipe Rubio, Bits of News.

{{Star Trek 1999 films 1999 independent films 1999 romantic comedy films 1990s English-language films American independent films American romantic comedy films American satirical films Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Romantic comedy films based on actual events Saturn Award–winning films Star Trek fandom Works about Star Trek 1990s American films English-language independent films English-language romantic comedy films