Product Details

• Actors: Dave Hoover, George Mendonça, Raymond A. Mendez, Rodney Brooks
• Directors: Errol Morris
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: March 16, 1999
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0800182596
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,918 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Documentary > History > American History & Culture

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
George, Dave, Ray, and Rodney. Not a singing group, but four real-life individuals dedicated to controlling the entities that don't take kindly to their efforts. George Mendonca is a topiary gardener who spends his time taming tendrils of plant life into animal shapes. Why? Because he can, and apparently it's no easy job. One slip of the clipper and a green and leafy body part can go bye-bye for years. Dave Hoover takes on big cats under the big top. An admirer of the famous lion tamer, Clyde Beatty, Dave comes out of the lion ring covered with sweat. Not from working hard, but from hand-trembling fear. Ray Mendez, a mole-rat expert, waxes eloquently about the social structure of these sightless, hairless natural wonders who wear their teeth on the outside of their lips. But if you want to see a real wacko at work, watch Rodney Brooks, a robotics expert who is convinced our extinction will be the first step in a takeover of tin men.

In Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, documentarian Errol Morris proves that the weird and obscure are just as interesting as the rich and famous. Morris tries to add depth to his subjects with his out-of-control editing technique, which after a while becomes an annoying distraction; these guys are fascinating enough all by themselves. The blare of the background music is also a bit much. Despite these shortcomings, though, if you like taking a voyeuristic peek into other people's lives, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control gives you plenty to look at. --Luanne Brown

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best and least expected meaning-of-life film Ive seen., April 12, 1999

By A Customer

It confuses me how a documentary can stroll in and bump La Dolce Vita, Barton Fink and Delicatessen down 1 notch on my top 10 list.

In the first third of the film I reckoned the film to be just a gorgeous montage. A topiary gardener, a robot engineer, a mole-rat expert and a lion tamer... each doing their own bizarre thing. Visually great and certainly interesting. But at the midpoint the movie became alive for me. The passion the characters have for their respective activity forces the viewer to become a fifth character, a ghost eccentric facing the screen. Morris not only validates your passion, but makes you repent for not being more intense. Each day you've spent not doing what you love seems very wasted. And the remainder of your life becomes a resource that you ought not to squander.

"Fast, Cheap and Out of Control" subtly and generously leads anyone in the audience equipped with a gut, a heart and a brain to wake up and feel alive. This film melds what makes David Salle a great painter with what makes Gerald Stern great poet. Morris will certainly become known as a master.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How about a review of Luanne Brown's appaling review?, February 14, 2005

By	dutch oven (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (DVD)

First off, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and find it bizarre that it merits an Amazon editorial review of such shabby professionalism. Who is Luanne Brown? Why is she reviewing a movie that she clearly doesn't comprehend, and how can she maintain a job in a field that requires fluency in the English language? Not only is this review a total hack job, she also repeats spurious assumptions in her review that have no basis in the film that I watched, entitled 'Fast, Cheap & Out of Control' by Errol Morris.

Does George Mendonca really follow his passion in topiary gardening 'because he can'? Is Dave Hoover really filled with 'hand-trembling fear' dealing with the animals to which he's dedicated his life's work? She manages to follow such ridiculous notions by dismissing Rodney Brooks as a 'real wacko', hardly deserving given the fact that he is a robotics expert at MIT and Luanne is a hack reviewer on the Internet.

Why would I bother wasting my time with this? Well Amazon is unfortunately where a lot of people will check for information about products before making a purchase, and in this respect, I believe an editorial review should be balanced and fair. Unfortunately, Luanne's review comes across as a film student/wannabe filmmaker crying foul because someone's breaking the rules she learned in editing class. Sorry, it is not 'out-of-control', Errol Morris happens to be completely 'in control' and more than a 'voyeurestic peek', this is a captivating work of art that merits repeated viewings. Yes, it's weird and obscure, but that's the point --- why the 'rich and famous' would be interesting is anyone's guess.

On a final note, I found Caleb Sampson's original soundtrack a fine piece of work and a perfect compliment to the images Morris presents us. It is not 'blaring', or even out of place. If you want blaring out of place soundtracks, check George Fenton's work with the BBC. Please, Amazon, if you're going to post editorial reviews, please do it responsibly.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not about "weird," it's about "life", January 12, 2000

By	Lisa A. Flaherty (Florida) - See all my reviews

I purchased this video expecting from the description to watch "weirdos" in hopeless, inconsequentual pursuits, only to find a film that makes a strong statement on "life."

The juxtaposition of the rat moles going about their core, instinctive routines and the scientest attempting to find reason in them; the lion tamer, attempting to control the core, instinctive behaviors of his "actors,"; the topiary gardener, attempting to shape "life" from the instinctive and natural growth of his shrubs; and the robot engineer, attempting to recreate "instinctive" reflexes --life -- in his creations.

The overwhelming question the viewer at the end of this film must ask is not "aren't they a bunch of weirdos," but is "why do I behave the way I do?"

All the segments show humans controlling and analyzing life and behavior in their own way. Put it all together, and one must wonder if there's not someone controlling their actions. Or, if it's possible for man to understand the complex intricacies of what "life" really is.

Don't buy this film if you want to see a freak show. These people are not freaks. They are all people attempting to grasp a little control and understanding of this thing we call life.