By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"Weak Layers" is a weak, hit and miss ski comedy that follows the adventures of three women who have a mountain of personal issues to contend with.
Katie Burrell, directed, stars, and co-wrote "Weak Layers" with screenwriter
Andrew Ladd. She plays a happy-go-lucky 30-year-old outdoorsy type living in Lake Tahoe with her party hearty roommates Lucy (Jadyn Wong, TV's "Scorpion") and Tina (Chelsea Conwright, "Hollywood Stargirl").
Their partying ways get the best of them and soon the young women find themselves broke and evicted from their home. They're now bundled up in a busted old van they've borrowed from Cleo's ex-boyfriend.
Cleo has always been intrigued with filmmaking and finds out about the Hot Lapse, an infamous ski doc competition. The goal is for upstart filmmakers to create a ski video that captures the fun and excitement of the sport and that will lure viewers and get them interested in skiing. There is prize money attached to the project, which they definitely could use.
As luck would have it, Cleo meets Gabe (Evan Jonigkeit, "Manodrome"), a former pro skier making a comeback. Gabe and his director Dane Blake (Neal Bledsoe, "Susie Searches") are in it to win it. Yet, Cleo and Gabe's attraction and budding romance brings other problems that Cleo and Dan don't need right now. Hijinks ensue as Cleo attempts to try something different with her film and impress one of the judges (legendary skier/filmmaker, Scott Gaffney). She has to deal with her immature and unreliable friends who realize they are way in over their heads in this competition.
Even when Cleo comes around and realizes the importance of her community and how everyone can make a difference in the ski town, the cliched message just feels forced and contrived. A livelier script and fleshed out characters would have made "Weak Layers" a much stronger and entertaining movie.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Look At This Trailer For
"WEAK LAYERS"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
