Trekking Where We Have Gone Before

FREE ENTERPRISE (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Obsessions can be treated with care, as they don't run your life. Pop-culture obsessions, a staple of 90's cinema and Generation-X, can ruin one's hope to connect with people unless you find that special someone that shares your obsession. In "Free Enterprise," the obsession is over "Star Trek" (the original series only). You have heard of Trekkies and how William Shatner famously told them to get a life. Now we get to see how Trekkies really act, more or less.

There's Mark (Eric McCormack) who is pushing thirty and is a successful low-grade exploitation screenwriter. He is so low-grade that he has a pitch meeting where he pushes a movie called "Bradykiller," about a killer who kills any girl resembling the girls from the "Brady Bunch." Mark's friend is Robert (Rafer Weigel), an editor for those same low-grade movies who is fairly lax. He is such a Trekkie that he rather spend money on laser discs than on the rent, thus enabling the breakup with his current girlfriend. He clearly has mixed up his priorities. Of special note is the fact that this movie was made in 1999 when laser discs were a minor big deal despite the advent of DVD's.

All Mark and Robert can do is wallow in their own miseries. Mark is more sensible with money yet he is afraid of commitment with another woman. Robert only wants a woman who shares his passion for "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," yet he is also afraid of commitment. One day, they inadvertently run into William Shatner at a bookstore. By Shatner, I do mean the real Shattastic, the real McCoy, Captain Kirk himself, who is in a bit of a creative slump. He is trying to make the play "Julius Caesar" into a musical where he will play all the characters! Shatner hopes that through Mark, his vision can become reality.

"Free Enterprise" has a nice set-up for a fun-filled comedy but it loses its footing and goes into territory that simply marks time. We get too many scenes of Mark and Robert regurgitating the same conversation in one diner scene after another. There is a love story in here somewhere between Robert and his potential true love, Claire (Audrey England), who loves science-fiction and comic books but is also looking for a man that can take care of her. That may be too much to ask of Robert, but what on earth does this have to do with the central story revolving around William Shatner? Such personal relationships could've mixed in nicely with Shatner saying, "Hey, get a life you Trekkies! There is more to life than make-believe!" Interestingly, Shatner himself is shown as a middle-aged, bashful man who has trouble with the ladies. Unfortunately, Shatner has too few scenes to make a stronger connection to the narrative.

I liked "Free Enterprise" enough for its sincere performances and for Shatner's quick-witted scenes. It's just that it really falls short of going where we haven't gone before.