In its ultimate affection for its oddball, damaged, aspirational characters, The Color Wheel isn't so much the reactive, oppositional fable its creators might imagine. And in its incestuous finale, Perry has merely checked off yet another hallmark of the contemporary American indie film: after time spent meandering, finally introduce a potentially interesting and perhaps irreconcilable complication, and then slink quickly into the credits.
Jeff Reichert
June 1, 2012