Film 34 (9/27/2005)

Free Enterprise (1998)

Director: Robert Meyer Burnett

Recommended by: Mariah Carey

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

This is a great film to watch for cinema buffs, even if you are not a Star Trek fanatic. Free Enterprise is a very comical piece, laced all sorts of obscure film references throughout its entirety - there were so many that I simply could not catch all of them and I realized that if one were to devise a "drinking game" where everyone had to drink whenever such a reference occurred, everyone playing the game would be smashing drunk by the film's end (much like Shatner is when he first attempts to talk to Marlena (Deborah Van Valkenberg).

I must admit that I was rolling throughout most of Free Enterprise, right from the very get-go. For all of you Star Trek fans out there who are sick of people saying that "Star Wars is better", there is a line at the film's beginning, when Young Robert (Spencer Klein; Rafer Weigel played "grown-up" Robert) has his vision of William Shatner giving him advice:

Robert: well, it was something he said...

Shatner: what did he say?

Robert: you really don't want to know.

Shatner: I really do want to know!

Robert: He said that Han Solo was cooler than Captain Kirk.

Shatner (as only Shatner can deliver): Well, kick the little fucker's ass!

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 4/5. It's the same "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wants girl back, gets girl" story that we've seen a million times over, but the humor in the film makes this plot work.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 4/5. Nothing over the top brilliant, but I appreciated the work done in this category.

Overall Acting: 4/5. Shatner is simply awesome in this film and really seems to enjoy making fun of himself.

Score/Soundtrack: 4/5. Julius Caesar ... the musical?

OVERALL RATING: 4/5

~Fentablar~