A young woman makes a bargain with her fiancé that would give each of them license to sleep with one famous person — presumably one time only and ostensibly with no negative repercussions on their relationship. It’s a whimsical pact that committed couples occasionally make with one another. But what might happen if one of the partners gets lucky? That question is the driving force of filmmaker David Wain’s frothy comedy Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, which is lifted by the presence of the winsome Zoey Deutch as small-town hairdresser Gail and further profits from a roster of well-known actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves. When you’re making a humorous movie about a celebrity sex pass, it evidently helps to feature real celebrities who are willing to poke fun at how the public perceives them.
Although a batch of familiar personalities crop up in Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, those with the most screen time are actors Jon Hamm and John Slattery who costarred on the lauded TV series Mad Men. Hamm became more of a household name than Slattery as their careers proceeded, and that point serves as a running gag in the movie. As for how Hamm figures in Gail’s story, our heroine is about to marry her high school sweetheart Tom (Michael Cassidy) when he encounters his newly proclaimed celebrity sex pass, actress Jennifer Aniston, at a book-signing and decides to spend the night with her. Gail discovers them together and, a little rattled by the encounter, she needs to get away to clear her head. Conveniently, her bestie Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) is attending a hairdressers’ convention in Los Angeles, so she joins him on the trip. After an impromptu visit to a Hollywood storefront psychic, Gail decides to counter Tom’s actions by sleeping with her own celebrity sex pass, Jon Hamm.
Jon Hamm as himself in Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass | Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics
Attempting to track down Hamm, Gail, and Otto go on a manic expedition through Tinseltown at its most glamorous and seedy. They’re accompanied by talent-agency gopher Caleb, played by Ben Wang; paparazzo Vincent, played by Ken Marino; and Slattery as himself. All of the newcomers have reasons for joining Gail on her quest: Caleb wants to raise his industry status by pitching a movie to Hamm, Vincent wants to finally get a photo of the reclusive Hamm, and Slattery wants to get a role in Hamm’s next project. If it seems like Gail’s journey to Los Angeles has some parallels with The Wizard of Oz, starting with the trio of motley companions she meets along the way, they are presumably intentional. There’s even a wicked witch equivalent with Sabrina Impacciatore as an over-the-top criminal mastermind who sends her thugs, not quite flying monkey style, to kill Gail after a briefcase mix-up.
A crafty cast with cheeky cameos
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass isn’t a gut-buster, but there are laughs to be had. Its gentle skewering of fame and the movie industry is never less than amusing. Deutch, so appealing in the recent Netflix romcom Voicemails for Isabelle, is a major asset here, navigating the script’s good-natured absurdities and imbuing Gail with determination and enthusiasm. And she’s surrounded by a reliable supporting cast of comic actors — Marino, Impacciatore, Fred Melamed, Michael Ian Black, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Richard Kind, Thomas Lennon, and Toby Huss among them. Beyond Hamm, Slattery, and Aniston, there are more luminaries playing themselves with tongue in cheek. You get a nice helping of musical parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic in a few scenes, and there are jocular cameos from Paul Rudd, Henry Winkler, Elizabeth Banks, Penn Jillette, and Elizabeth Perkins, who pop up as needed.
In addition to directing Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, Wain cowrote the script with Marino, a fellow founding member of the sketch comedy troupe The State. They’ve been collaborating for a while. Marino had a memorable part in Wain’s first directorial effort, the 2001 cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer, and they also co-wrote the solid Wain-directed comedies 2008’s Role Models and 2012’s Wanderlust, both of which star Rudd. Considering his long affiliation with Wain and Marino, it’s not too surprising that Rudd shows up for a brief moment with Gail and the gang. Despite all of the plot machinations, multiple layers, and homage involved, there’s a sense of ease to the movie that’s likely related to how many of the participants — such as The State sketch comedy troupe alumni Black, Kenney-Silver, and Lennon — have worked together before.
Frolicking with the famous
Celebrities doing self-caricature isn’t a particularly new idea in film or on TV. It was a staple of two brilliant sitcoms: Curb Your Enthusiasm, an acerbic take down of the conventions and attitudes of modern American society, courtesy of writer-producer-star Larry David; and Extras, a look at the travails of bit players toiling in movies, television, and the theater with series creator Ricky Gervais as an ambitious extra trying to make his mark. On Curb, David interacted with guest stars including Ted Danson, Richard Lewis, Ben Stiller, Mel Brooks, and Jerry Seinfeld as exaggerated versions of themselves, while Extras brought in Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart, David Bowie, Daniel Radcliffe, and more to spar with Gervais.
At the movies, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent depicted an overwrought Nicolas Cage wrestling with a wave of personal crises; This Is the End observed obnoxious variants of Seth Rogen, James Franco, Emma Watson, and other young actors as they faced the apocalypse; Zombieland had Bill Murray trying to evade the flesh-eating hordes; Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle saw Neil Patrick Harris behaving in a most unseemly and debauched manner; etc. While Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass doesn’t approach the heights of those landmark shows and films, its excursion through the wilds of Hollywood and the entertainment business is a jaunty outing with recognizable faces and a likable lead character trying to take control of her life.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is currently in theaters.
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