‘Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass’ Review: We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, Jon Hamm [C+] | Sundance
Some comedies are largely accessible, with great performances and a compelling story that not only keeps the laughs going but makes us come back to them again and again. And then there are comedies that are so absurd, so nonsensical, that you’re either on board with it or not at all. Such is the case with David Wain’s newest film, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.
Mere seconds into the film, Fred Melamed (playing a mailman introducing himself as Frank) breaks the fourth wall and narrates to the audience, telling us about his simple small town in Kansas and how everyone’s favorite citizen is Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch), a hairdresser who is expecting the entire town to attend her upcoming wedding. Her relationship with her fiancé is perfect. Life’s perfect. Everything is so wonderful and fine and dandy. That is until they discuss the idea of a “celebrity hall pass” and… let’s just say her fiancé hastily makes one up on the spot and uses it. With her relationship now in crisis, Gail must journey beyond her home state of Kansas and travel with her best friend Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) to Los Angeles, in an attempt to fulfill Gail’s own celebrity pass – to find and have sex with Jon Hamm.
As the script makes clear time and time again, Gail is (literally) not in Kansas anymore. As they journey around Los Angeles, she will meet a handful of characters and have each one join her in her quest, in classic Wizard of Oz fashion. These characters include CAA agent Caleb (Ben Wang), tabloid photographer Vincent (Ken Marino, who also co-wrote the film), and John Slattery as himself.
The silliness remains dialed at eleven from start to finish. Nearly every character talks like they’re in a commercial or skit, practically every line can start with “Well, I’m so glad you asked!” and end with “There’s got to be a better way!” Wain and Marino go out of their way to make sure there is something dumb to laugh at every minute, whether it’d be a visual gag or just have a character go off on a personality quirk. These are more caricatures than characters, and Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is clearly doing it on purpose.
Whether these kinds of silly comedies can work completely depends on if the film is funny. For the most part, it is. There are plenty of industry jokes, sharp satirical commentary, and visuals so unbelievable you would be asking “Is this really happening?” One particular joke where Gail and Otto ask the hotel front desk about what amenities they should try in LA had me howling in my seat. At the same time, the problem with Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is that it is too often doing the same thing over and over. A character would ramble about something for too long, it would cut to everyone’s quiet reaction, the character apologizes, and that’s the joke. Because I guess awkward silences are automatically funny. Or a group of people takes turns punching a person, and the last member says they won’t do it. You know the punchline (hah) is that the last member is going to throw the punch anyways. More often than not, a joke runs too long and becomes cringe, or you see a joke coming from a mile away and it does exactly that, or sometimes it would do the same joke a second or third time (it was funny once).
The crazy part is that even with all the noise and bloated subplots – a main one involves Gail and company being pursued by a mob – it’s remarkable to see how “committed to the bit” the film is. Never once does it stray away from its identity, as Wain and Marino will unapologetically perform the joke on screen, and this ensemble cast is more than willing to roll with it. Though many of its unfunny moments are due to repetition, two of the best jokes in the film – one involving door slamming and the other involving a guard who will make you sick – are repeated constantly and they’re hysterical. Add in some crazy celebrity cameos, and there is something to be respected and admired about the film’s commitment.
Still, even after all the laughing and the unfunny jokes that sometimes go so long that they become kind of funny again, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is just not memorable or meaningful enough for anything to really resonate. It plays like a giant skit, and like many skits from SNL, it’s funny until it keeps going. But the world being created here is a strangely fascinating one. From the small town Gail is from feeling like something out of The Good Place to the Chateau Marmont being portrayed like the Disney castle, there is an overload of creativity on display. This is a “stoopid” film, spelled with two O’s, and even when much of it does not land for me, it has to be seen to be believed.
Grade: C+
This review is from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival where Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass had its world premiere.
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