Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
With a title like “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” it’s safe to expect a certain level of zaniness and tongue-in-cheek humor. While David Wain’s latest outing about a woman desperately trying to cash in her celebrity hall pass grows increasingly wacky as it goes along, the laughs unfortunately become fewer and farther between. Credit to Wain and frequent collaborator Ken Marino, who also co-stars, for convincing a slew of celebrities to commit to the bit. But as the plot grows more convoluted and detached from reality, it loses the grounded absurdity that made fellow offbeat comedy “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” such a delight.
The film follows small-town dreamer Gail Daughtry (the always-plucky Zoey Deutch), an aspiring hairstylist preparing to marry her high school sweetheart, Tom (Michael Cassidy). After Tom cheats on her using his celebrity hall pass, something the two jokingly agree to moments before it actually happens, Gail packs up with her best friend Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) and heads to Los Angeles to track down none other than “Mad Men” heartthrob Jon Hamm, the celebrity she’s been fantasizing about since high school.
Their journey puts Gail and Otto in the crosshairs of an Italian mob boss (Sabrina Impacciatore) and her bumbling henchmen (Joe Lo Truglio and Mather Zickel, who overstay their welcome fairly quickly) after an accidental briefcase swap at the airport. Along the way they encounter a colorful cast of characters, including Ben Wang as a CAA agent-in-training, Marino as a sleazy paparazzo who’s spent decades chasing the perfect Jon Hamm photo, and, best of all, John Slattery playing an exaggerated version of himself. The pathos behind Slattery’s character is one of the movie’s few genuinely inspired ideas, and he throws himself into the role with a level of comedic commitment we haven’t really seen from him before.
It’s a hodgepodge of ideas that never quite come together into a cohesive viewing experience. Wain floods the movie with celebrity cameos, some playing fictional characters and others playing themselves, which ultimately muddies the Hollywood satire he’s trying to craft. There’s so much happening and so many disconnected ideas, including one memorable detour involving a well-known celebrity, a mansion and an arsenal of machine guns, that you almost have to admire the movie simply for swinging so hard.
The concept itself is ripe for satire, and you already know Jon Hamm eventually shows up. He commits wholeheartedly as the fantasy Gail has built up in her mind, but without much characterization or real momentum behind the story, the movie mostly spins its wheels. It’s essentially a sketch comedy stitched together with a handful of solid chuckles and a few sharp jabs at Hollywood culture and celebrity obsession, but not enough substance to become the cult classic it so desperately wants to be.
GAIL DAUGHTRY AND THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS is now playing in theaters.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theonlycritic.com ’
