Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
| 03 October 1997 (USA)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control Trailers

Errol Morris’s Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of four men, each driven to create eccentric worlds from their unique obsessions, all of which involve animals. There’s a lion tamer who shares his theories on the mental processes of wild animals; a topiary gardener who has devoted a lifetime to shaping bears and giraffes out of hedges and trees; a man fascinated with hairless mole rats; and an MIT scientist who has designed complex, autonomous robots that can crawl like bugs.

Reviews
Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
kld0068 A true test of the impression that a film makes is whether I remember that I've seen it before. I watched "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" on Crackle last night. About half way through the film, I had a moment of deja vu and realized that I had watched this same film many years ago. Clearly, my sub conscience had tried to suppress the memory for some reason.The film is a documentary about four men, a lion tamer, a topiary sculptor, a mole rat biologist, and a robotics engineer. I tried very hard to find the common thread between these various professions. Was it that filmmaker was trying to demonstrate complexity through much simpler systems? Perhaps a look inside the mind of several eccentric geniuses and glimpse at how they arrive at solutions to organic problems? Or, is it just an entertaining look at four unique professions which would have been less intriguing as four short films? The editing style bounces from man to man, from profession to profession, and has many cutaways to segment clips from various "B" (or maybe "D") movies. The key phrase in the film, and in the story telling, is said by the robotics engineer when he describes a proposed exploration system as "fast, cheap, and out of control." After thinking about the movie and what message, if any, it was trying to convey, my conclusion is that the film itself it was is "fast, cheap, and out of control" and that any deeper meaning than that is overexertion on the viewers part in trying to find connections that do not exist.
Estelle1323 This was a strange film, one that I'm not sure I completely understood. The editing was a little "out of control" all on its own. This is a review of four seemingly different careers- An animal trainer for the circus, a topiary gardener, a naked mole rat specialist, and a robot scientist. The film tried to find similarities between these three unique jobs. While this was interesting, informative, and slightly satirical, I did not find this a film that I would race to see again. My lack of total enthusiasm in regards to something like this may be only an individual's preference, so I cannot say I detested this movie, and not to see it.
Terris Owens I found the documentary entitled Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control to be a fairly interesting documentary. The documentary contained four "mini" documentaries about four interesting men. Each one of these men was extremely involved with his job, showing sheer love and enjoyment for one's job.The sad part, I must say, would have to be the subjects in which these individuals worked/studied. They were interesting for about five minutes, afterwards becoming boring and lasting entirely too long.The video was filmed in a very creative way though. I very much enjoyed the film of one thing with a voice dub over another. It played out excellent and also coincided nicely with the music.
jones81291 How can a creative writing teacher entertain her class of seven students while educating them? Show them Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control is how.I found this movie very entertaining. As a Junior who is about to get out of school for the summer, its hard to keep my attention but I found myself unable to fall asleep during this movie.Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control was quite random and amazing. I would recommend this movie to anyone. It made me laugh and showed me how compassionate people should be about their jobs.Whats the point of going to a dead end boring job you loathe when you could be out there doing what you love and getting paid for it? There is no point.My hope is that when I have a full time job, I love it and look forward to it just as much as these men do with their jobs.I think all you workers should do the same.