THE STORY – Midwestern bride-to-be Gail Daughtry has a “free celebrity pass” agreement with her fiancé — who uses it. With her relationship in crisis, Gail sets out on an epic journey through Hollywood to even the scales.
THE CAST – Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Miles Gutierrez-Riley & Ben Wang
THE TEAM – David Wain (Director/Writer) & Ken Marino (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 93 Minutes
A title can tell you so much about a movie. “F1” isn’t about the button on your keyboard; it’s actually about, believe it or not, cars! “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” takes place in the coolest place you can set a movie: The Bone Temple. And “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” is about exactly what it says: a woman and her choice of the one famous person that she’s allowed to sleep with, which her significant other legally can’t get mad about. It’s a great premise for a movie, turning a fun conversational point that most couples have into the concept for a comedy. Unfortunately, despite this excellent set-up and a very game cast, the latest from David Wain (the director behind modern comic classics like “Wet Hot American Summer” and “They Came Together”) is simply not as funny as it should be. And when a movie is as broad and ridiculous as this, indicating that it clearly has no goal other than to make the audience laugh, that’s a big problem.
Our titular character is played by Zoey Deutch, who has charm cranked up to 11. She lives an idyllic life in her Kansas hometown with her fiancé, Tom (Michael Cassidy), working at a hair salon with her friend Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley). After Otto brings up the subject of the celebrity sex pass, Gail and Tom have a casual conversation about it on their way to a book signing by Jennifer Aniston. Previously unfamiliar with her work, Tom has the briefest of interactions with the “Friends” star and tells Gail that Aniston would be the one celebrity he would want permission to sleep with, in the very unlikely scenario that such a thing was possible. Well, thanks to a left-behind coat, that opportunity quickly presents itself, taking Gail by surprise. Confused and upset, she impulsively travels with Otto to LA. While there, she realizes that the only way that she’ll be able to move on from what Tom did would be to balance the scales by sleeping with the celebrity that she marked for her sex pass: Jon Hamm.
Thus begins the whirlwind adventure of a young girl in a brand new land often referred to by just two letters. Once she lands in LA, the film begins making subtle nods to “The Wizard of Oz,” before it quickly becomes clear that Gail Daughtry’s journey is a reimagining of Dorothy Gale’s. It’s a canny way to imbue the story with familiarity, and picking up on the parallels makes for a fun little game for viewers, especially those who aren’t otherwise swept up by the film (and some of the equivalences are amusing for their absurdity. I guess Jennifer Aniston is…Miss Gulch?).
This structure is pretty smart, especially for a film like this that’s as different in tone, content, and purpose as “The Wizard of Oz.” But it’s not enough to sustain comedic energy for the entire runtime. For the most part, the jokes are just not funny or clever enough to support the film’s high concept. Wain and co-writer Ken Marino throw a ton of jokes at the audience, and just by sheer ratio alone, most of them don’t land. Without a doubt, the most consistently funny aspect of the film is Deutch’s “gee whiz” attitude and guileless energy constantly butting up against the cold, hard reality of life in LA. Sure, it’s an exaggerated version of the City of Angels, but it makes total sense as an alternate version of Dorothy’s experience in the brutal-but-colorful world of Oz. The sight gags are also effective, especially when they break the rules of time, space, and filmmaking logic in a way that Wain is clearly fond of, given his previous work. But far too many spoken jokes don’t land, go on too long, or are overly-explained in a way that saps them of their impact.
While comedic effect can be argued, something that’s hard to deny about the film is that the cast uniformly commits. Every member of the ensemble is fully bought into the film’s ridiculous tone. John Slattery plays a bizarro version of himself who’s completely washed up post-”Mad Men,” and he holds nothing back in his self-deprecating portrayal. Sabrina Impacciatore (“The White Lotus”) is hilarious as this film’s Wicked Witch; here, she’s an unhinged mob boss named Ludovica. And Miles Gutierrez-Riley is a winning presence as Otto (rearrange the letters, you clever boys and girls). He and Gail’s relationship is genuinely sweet, giving the impression that no matter what else happens, they’ll be there for each other.
“Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” never quite tops the “that’s a funny title” first impression that it gives the audience. The jokes are plentiful in quantity but certainly not in quality, and the shiny, cheap-looking filmmaking itself doesn’t make it any easier on the eyes than it is on the ears. And while it certainly has a heart, thanks in huge part to the talented ensemble of funny performers, it doesn’t have the brains or the nerve to be clever or daring in its comedy.
