David Wain has spent the better part of three decades operating on a wavelength that few comedy filmmakers have ever managed to match. Whether it’s the legendary Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models, They Came Together, or any number of wonderfully ridiculous projects in between, his films and series understand that the funniest jokes often come from complete commitment to utter nonsense. They don’t need to wink at the audience; they stare directly into the insanity until everyone else has no choice but to come along for the ride.
As someone who practically wore out my DVD copy of Role Models growing up and still quotes Wanderlust with friends far more often than any functioning adult probably should, I’ve long since learned to trust Wain’s comedic instincts. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass rewards that faith with one of his funniest and most relentlessly charming films in some time, and likely my favorite funny movie of the whole year.
In case the title didn’t tip you off enough, the setup alone for this story is a joke within itself. Happy-go-lucky Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch) has lived what can only be described as a storybook existence in her tiny Kansas hometown, happily engaged to her childhood sweetheart Tom (Michael Cassidy). One fateful day, everything falls apart when the couple meet Jennifer Aniston at a book signing and Tom winds up sleeping with her. Desperate to save her marriage, Gail is forced to leave home alongside her best friend Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) for a journey to Los Angeles, where the only way to set things right is for her to have sex with her own celebrity crush: Jon Hamm.
The script, written by Wain and frequent collaborator Ken Marino, gleefully launches into one increasingly absurd detour after another. At the airport, Gail’s briefcase is accidentally swapped with one belonging to Sergio (Joe Lo Truglio), a classic incompetent goon working for local mob boss Ludovica (Sabrina Impacciatore). Now, Gail’s celebrity quest and Sergio’s desperate manhunt collide into one spectacularly ridiculous road movie that only becomes funnier the more characters (like a pathetic paparazzi played by Marino or a Hollywood boulevard salesman played by Michael Ian Black) into the adventure.
Gail Daughtry, or Celebrity Sex Pass if you’d like, confidently embraces its own intentional stupidity the way the best feature comedies should. Every joke is pushed one step further than expected, then another step beyond that. Wain has always understood that exaggeration isn’t something to avoid - it’s the destination itself. The film has an almost supernatural instinct for knowing exactly when to keep stretching a bit until it reaches complete comedic delirium.
Frank the Mailman (Fred Melamed) serves as the film’s wonderfully deadpan narrator, delivering every line with such deliberate sincerity that even the most ridiculous developments somehow feel oddly profound. It’s exactly the kind of heightened comedic choice that might collapse under almost anyone else’s direction but instead becomes one of the movie’s secret weapons. Fans of Melamed’s indelible performance in A Serious Man will be delighted to see him tap into a similar vibe here.
The ensemble is stacked with scene-stealers. Lo Truglio absolutely kills as Sergio, whose increasingly pathetic attempts to recover the missing briefcase become funnier every single time he appears. The young Ben Wang nearly walks away with the entire movie as Caleb, an aspiring talent agent who gets swept into Gail’s mission, while Jon Hamm’s stone-faced bodyguard Terrence (Tobie Windham) proves to be another constant source of laughs. Even the endless parade of celebrity cameos feels justified here, largely because the entire premise revolves around celebrity obsession in the first place. Unlike so many cameo-heavy comedies that stop dead simply to clap at who’s on screen, these appearances actually fuel the escalating absurdity.
Wain also incorporates an unexpected amount of Wizard of Oz DNA throughout Gail’s odyssey. In addition to the story’s structure, there are numerous allusions to the classic tale throughout, such as Gail literally coming from Kansas, Ludovica acting as a Wicked Witch stand-in, and eventually John Slattery (as himself) joining the gang and getting to do an inspired Cowardly Lion bit. It’s exactly the sort of joke that shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does, but everyone involved commits with such complete conviction that resisting becomes impossible.
There were multiple moments where I found myself laughing so hard I genuinely struggled to catch my breath. One particular slapstick sequence had me wheezing, and Melamed’s spectacular delivery of the film’s title has been living rent-free in my head ever since I saw it. Even throwaway lines - like Otto casually revealing his specific taste for “black-and-white Holocaust shit” or someone sincerely asking, “Do you think celebrities normally answer the door to strangers for sex requests?” - land with perfect timing. The screenplay constantly finds new ways to zig when you expect it to zag.
Zoey Deutch (Minions & Monsters, The Threesome) anchors all of the comedic chaos beautifully. Gail has a very Kimmy Schmidt-like optimism and energy that keeps the film surprisingly sweet despite its gleefully filthy premise. She’s never the butt of the joke. Instead, she’s the emotional center holding together a world populated by mobsters, psychics, paparazzi, celebrity bodyguards, and increasingly bizarre coincidences and scenarios. That sincerity gives the movie a surprisingly wholesome heart beneath all of its raunchiness, and there’s a genuinely great chemistry between Deutch and her co-star Gutierrez-Riley (Off Campus, Smile 2) that keeps things nice and breezy.
I’m an absolute sucker for this kind of comedy. Give me broad slapstick, cartoon logic, endlessly quotable dialogue, and actors committing to complete nonsense with Oscar-worthy conviction, and I’m almost certainly having a great time. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass understands exactly what kind of movie it wants to be and executes it with unwavering confidence. It’s silly, shameless, endlessly inventive, and consistently hilarious - a reminder that nobody quite orchestrates hilarity like David Wain. If you’ve ever found yourself on his particular comedic wavelength, this is another trip you’ll happily take.
‘Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass’ is now playing in theaters.
