All of the vicious criticisms of this movie - it's indie mumblecore narcissist hipster preciousness shot on a micro-budget, starring a guy who's a cross between the poor man's Woody Allen and the poor man's Michael Cera - are fair enough. The Color Wheel definitely is the abomination I just described.But it's really funny! The shapeless plot and the half-assed characterizations somehow work to the movie's benefit; it has a silly unpredictability, and the dialogue is peppered with a million dumb jokes. I scowled at this movie for about ten minutes, and then I grudgingly started having a good time.By the way, I actually like the aesthetic; it reminds me of Mala Noche, In the Soup, and some early Jim Jarmusch movies.

I like checking out independent films every once in awhile, so the CW fit the bill, especially because it was billed as a comedy. This was a Black and While film, and I usually take a star off because of that, but for some reason it worked in this case. For some reason the lower quality look gives the viewer a bit of distance they need to enjoy the film.It resolves around a couple of adult siblings who take a trip together. The sister asks the brother to go with her to get the sisters belongings from an old boyfriends apartment. This trip involved a car ride requiring an overnight stay at a bible belt type motel which was a pretty funny scene. These two are the kind of kids that seemed like they grew up outside the popular crowd. However, I felt drawn to them and felt sorry for how the world revolved around them in cruel ways. They were kind of misfits, but they were not the type that would take crap from anybody. At least they were pretty kind to each other.The end of the film is kind of a shocker, but it also caused me to think about the movie a lot the day after the viewing. I would recommend this film to those who are open minded. I also wanted to point out that the brother and sister looked and acted a lot like they really were siblings - great acting job. I think both of them are deserving of future success in the arts.

Alex Ross Perry's The Color Wheel is proof that indie narcissism can occasionally pull out the goods.Filmed on grainy 16mm, it's a meandering road movie about two underachieving, alienated siblings. After she splits up with her professor-cum-boyfriend , aspiring news anchor J.R. (Carlen Altman) begs her shlubby younger brother Colin (played by director Perry) to help her back up the remnants of her miserable life and move on to the next. The journey across the States causes quite a stir, with the pair constantly berating each other in that conventional brotherly-sisterly banter way. It escalates to a harrowing final ten minutes, where the familial relationship is tested and it's clear that, if they weren't to have each other, they wouldn't have anything.Like many a-mumblecore movie before it, The Color Wheel consists of verbal sparring and excruciatingly awkward long takes. Unlike those insufferable predecessors, Perry and Altman's script moves with great acerbic force, audaciously treating the blackly comic as flippant light humor. It's quite similar in tone to Rick Alverson's The Comedy, starring Tim Heidecker, only the two loathsome characters here are presented with more compassion, actually having a narrative arc to follow right up to the film's bitter end.Whilst the scenes shared between the two are close to Alvy Singer>Annie Hall style perfection, The Color Wheel loses it's spark when the pair are backed up by cliché filler characters – the sorority bitch, the dumb jock, the rich kids – during a horrendous dinner party. It's the only time when the amateur acting and forced dialogue reflect it's minor budget production qualities.With improvised dialogue, a roaming plot, grainy 16mm stock and Sean Price Williams' artless cinematography, The Color Wheel absolutely stinks of Husbands-era John Cassavetes. Not that it's a bad scent, but it permeates throughout the film and leads the homage into unwarranted pastiche, and ultimately externalizes us from the drama.Even still, this minor tragicomedy, is a minor triumph for Perry and star in the making Altman. For fans of all things awkward, this unassuming movie sets the m-m-m-mumblecore wheel back in motion.Read more reviews here: www.366movies.com

The Color Wheel is a truly awful movie. Let's start with the simple fact that the title has nothing to do with the movie, which was shot in black and white for an unknown and almost certainly completely pointless reason. A 'slacker road trip' film, I can buy the idea that the filmmakers were trying to capture some Clerks like magic and failed miserably.It's the story of a brother and sister on a road trip, played by the couple who made the thing, which gives it a very weird vibe off the bat. The dialog is all improvised, which can be a good thing if the people doing the improvising have talent. This couple does not. If you've ever been stuck on a long car ride with people who think they're witty and won't stop bickering until you have the urge to put an icepick into someone's head (possibly your own) then you have experienced this film. The big Shock! Twist! ending is so unmotivated, and the characters are so unlikeable, that it feels painfully forced and falls flat. And if you haven't walked out of the theater by that point in a vain hope that it might get better you will be thoroughly disappointed. Stay home and watch reruns of the Simpsons instead of subjecting yourself to this mess.