Sometimes in life, you don’t always know what to do, no matter what you age are. Life’s unpredictable like that. You quit something that you think won’t benefit you, but then you realize that maybe that choice was a bad idea. That’s the premise of Ryan Martin Brown’s hilarious and unexpectedly insightful, debut indie comedy Free Time.
Buy Free Time DVDActor/writer Colin Burgess is Drew, a late twenty-something New Yorker who is tired of his cushy job and wants to embrace life. So, he quits and decides to see what else is out there. Juggling through friends, hobbies, potential girlfriends, and goals, he eventually realizes that he is way out of his league and has no clue what to do with his newfound freedom.
With a brisk 78-minute running time, the plot, while not entirely original, gives way to real themes of social isolation, anarchy, anxiety, and the search for meaning in a contemporary world that may not be quite right. You feel displaced somehow and you’re not sure where to go next.
I love Burgess’ performance, where his awkwardness feels genuine and gives his character a good dose of reality. Drew is someone that feels like many people who try to discover who they are but don’t necessarily have the greatest resources nor direction to do it. I can certainly relate. Burgess has great comic timing too and just nails Drew’s confusion and malaise.
The film is a solid New York movie, filled with interesting characters that surround Burgess in a tale of Gen X uncertainty. It evokes the filmmaking of Woody Allen but has enough of its own flavor to be a great, young-adult comedy.
Special features include audio commentary by Brown and Burgess, bloopers, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and trailers, including one for the film itself, Went Up the Hill, Bonjour Tristesse, Shoshana, and Summer Solstice.
