Weak Layers elevates ski comedy sub-genre

Katie Burrell’s new movie Weak Layers opens up with main character Cleo Brown trying to work through her feelings after receiving news from her boyfriend.

“So, I’m not even allowed to be mad. ‘Cause he’s gay,” Cleo laments to a drunk tourist she quickly clocks as working in finance.

Starting the movie off with what could still be considered an off-colour joke for some was a risk writer, director and star Burrell wanted to take to set up the messiness Weak Layers puts on display for a theme of honest humor throughout the film.

“She’s the victim in her own mind,” Burrell told Revelstoke Mountaineer when explaining the decision to start the movie in a way that could put Cleo (played by Burrell) in a harsher light right off the bat for audiences. “And so she behaves as such, and it’s just like the problematic, flawed human ways to react and respond to these things in our lives that are happening.”

Burrell said audience reactions to that opening joke shows the comedy is hitting the right notes for many.

”You’re laughing at this person’s reaction because they should be better, they should know better…. that was the authenticity, the relatability we wanted to bring into the dialogue.”

The general conversation of representation and inclusion within the movie was something Burrell admitted was present early on. Their goal wasn’t to highlight the lack of representation within winter sport culture, or to carve out spaces specifically for those stories such as Ryan Collins’ People Like Us, but to make a point to create normalcy within the diversity shown in the movie.

“We’ve got to keep talking about it in a way that’s authentic and not so nervous,” Burrell said. That authenticity includes jokes from Black skier Tina (played by Chelsea Conwright), who pitches her identity will get their film more points for the “representation card.”

“I’m incredibly unique for a ski movie,” Tina said, a joke Burrell said normalizes the elephants in the room.

“I wanted to use that joke to acknowledge the truth, to give that story a nod in these spaces.”

The more nuanced jokes interweave with the slapstick style comedy of skiing mishaps and the schadenfreude humor of the three friends’ increasingly desperate situation.

While Weak Layers is a comedy film that rarely shies away from making main characters Tina, Lucy (played by Jadyn Wong) and Cleo look bad as they try to delay any scrap of maturity, it’s an appreciation film for more ski films. Not just the riders and their skills, but the winter terrain that makes the entire sport and niche film genre possible.

The entire film, Burrell explained, is a testament to the cast and crew that all loved the project and a filming location that appreciated the work of a good ski film. 

“It’s the direct product of a group of extremely passionate people who didn’t take no for an answer ever. Everyone was so incredibly talented on the crew and the cast. They all just went above and beyond.”

Palisades Tahoe joined to provide filming locations and worked to make sure cast and crew had easy access.

Filming in and around Lake Tahoe also provided a steady stream of cast and crew talent for the project, a fact Burrell didn’t take for granted.

While Burrell appreciates Revelstoke and the community support she received for not only Weak Layers but previous projects such as the Stoke FM Stand-Up Comedy Festival and satire short INFLUENCER, she acknowledged the location becomes a hindrance.

“Our core crew was primarily L.A.-based. Traveling from L.A. to Tahoe is significantly easier than traveling into Revelstoke.”

Still, Revelstoke had its presence in the writing and imagining of the film from the very beginning.

“When I was writing it, you know, I imagined the opening scene in the Regent. I imagined the conversations happening in Revelstoke.”

Yet audiences have shown Burrell that the similar themes of Revelstoke she wanted to pay homage to are not unique to this particular ski town.

“People are telling us they’re super moved by the way that they’re being celebrated, the nobodies are being celebrated. People who are the fabric of these communities are being celebrated, and laughed at as well, you know? We all know these characters, these archetypes in each ski town.”

While Weak Layers is happy to crack a joke at the expense of many of the characters, it’s also a movie willing to give space and words to the struggles of maturing, specifically in the party scenes of ski towns. A theme encapsulated in the very title of the film, Weak Layers.

“The metaphor there is that we all have these sort of weak layers in our identities, our way of being in the world, that show up as insecurities. Failing to start, running away from our goals and dreams. It’s scary to pursue the thing you care about the most versus succeeding at something you care about less.”

Catch Weak Layers streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV starting February 6.