The film stars an ensemble cast including Michael Chung, John Cho, Burt Bulos, Jason Tobin, and Lela Lee.

When it's clear that the scavenger hunt is not making progress, Sin gets desperate, and he and his friend Alex cross a line that may change their lives.

[1] In April 1998, arthouse distributor Phaedra Cinema acquired distribution rights for the film with a planned theatrical release for May.

Thomas wrote, "As ambitious and rewarding as it is, Chris Chan Lee's Yellow has a significance beyond itself: It's the first major Korean American film to get a feature release.

"[12] Thomas added, "Through the specificity of this Korean American experience you can easily feel a sense of universality in Sin's predicament.

But there's no doubt Yellow marks the debut of a most promising talent who combines youthful zest and energy with a mature perspective that allows him to extend compassion to both sides of the generation gap.

"[12] Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Marc Savlov called the film "a bitingly dark comedy of escalating errors" and noted, "although Lee's script...sometimes ranges off into fields of preachiness, relentlessly good performances from Chung, Bulos, and especially Oh keep things grounded in the essential teen reality.

"[13] G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Examiner felt the character of Sin was underdeveloped, but praised Lee's visual style and said he "is skilled at depicting the emotions of those too old to be children and too young to be adults, that phase when anything seems possible but everything is frustrating.