Review: Romantic drama 'Color Me You' unconvincingly follows its bliss

By Kimber Myers

April 12, 2018 12:20 PM PT

Criticizing a film about an artist following her passion feels like you’re the villain in a similar movie. Unfortunately, “Color Me You” earns that treatment. It aims to inspire with its heartfelt story about an aspiring painter, but this indie drama fails to connect despite its best efforts.

The path for 18-year-old Kat Abernathy (Kaley Caperton) has been set by her overbearing mother (Katie Walker) and grandfather (Buck Taylor): She’ll follow in their footsteps and go to law school. But all Kat wants to do is paint, and when she wins a drawing contest while at college, she sees the opportunity to pursue her love. She hides her art classes from her parents, while signing her canvasses with someone else’s name.

“Color Me You” lacks details that would make its characters, their relationships and their actions feel real. There’s no evidence that anyone involved has been a pre-law major, picked up a brush or spoken to someone who has done either.

Director Marco Bottiglieri means well with his feature debut, which is competent from the technical side. While the screenplay from Brandon Mason has a few funny lines, it largely feels like 97 minutes of inspirational quotes shared by your “artsy” friend on Facebook. But “Color Me You” isn’t even a message movie; it’s a message in search of a movie.

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