"Our first thought was, 'That's a really stupid idea. Doesn't make sense, goes nowhere, and has no point." For all these reasons, we knew we HAD to make this movie."
Written by Mariane Tremblay
What if Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion were on a sex quest through the streets of Los Angeles to find the Wizard of Oz, so Dorothy could have sex with him, then go back home to get married? As strangely as it may sound, it is exactly the plot of Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.
Small-town hairdresser Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch) is engaged to her devoted high school sweetheart, Tom (Michael Cassidy). Her life takes a turn when a trip to a book signing leads to Tom meeting — and sleeping — with his "celebrity pass." Reeling from the betrayal, Gail impulsively joins her friend Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) on a trip to Los Angeles, where a psychic (Kerri Keney-Silver) convinces Gail that the only way to save her marriage is to "even the scales" with her own celebrity pass: Jon Hamm. Thus begins an epic journey through Tinseltown as Gail and Otto join forces with a talent agency assistant (Ben Wang), a paparazzo (Ken Marino), and actor John Slattery, all in the search for Hamm. Along the way, they collide with celebrities and are hunted by a group of Italian assassins as they get ever closer to finding the elusive star.
I had no idea what this movie was [really] about, and I had zero expectations, but I ended up having so much fun watching it. Turns out, this movie feels like it was made specifically for me. Even the filmmakers' statement had me laughing out loud. Just like them, I love comedy films — not action-comedies, thriller-comedies, or dramedies — just straight-up comedies. I love movies that don’t take themselves too seriously, and that aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves; unserious, goofy movies that are absolute no-brainers and that will make you laugh from beginning to end. And this one delivers.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass surely won't be for everyone. The humor isn't very nuanced— it's more on-the-nose — but it somehow worked for me. It didn't require me to think about anything; I just sat back, laughed, had a good time, and forgot about everything else for over an hour. And sometimes, that's exactly what you need.
Something I loved is how it unapologetically makes fun of Hollywood and Los Angeles. The running CAA joke absolutely killed me. The movie basically treats the talent agency like it's an all-powerful force running the entire city, where every problem can somehow be solved by getting "a meeting with CAA." It's such a niche joke for people in the industry, but the movie commits to it so hard that it becomes hilarious whether you're in on it or not. It's obviously exaggerated, but there's just enough truth behind it to make it even funnier.
But my favourite thing about it is definitely that it feels more like a sitcom than a movie. It felt like watching a chaotic 94-minute episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in the best possible way. I wasn’t familiar with Ken Marino and David Wain’s work. Still, Gail Daughtry definitely makes me want to dive into their respective filmographies and watch the other movies they made together.
The cast is great. Deutch's comedic timing is absolutely spot on, and she plays this chaotic, naive hairdresser like no one else could. But Ben Wang was the scene stealer for me; his chaotic energy was absurdly perfect. But the whole ensemble commits to the madness, and that's without mentioning all the cameos — they're so random, yet somehow so perfect for this movie.
Just like the filmmakers, you might think "That's a really stupid idea. Doesn't make sense, goes nowhere, and has no point," but for all these reasons, you have to watch this movie. Especially if you're a fan of comedies.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is now playing in theatres.
And for the record, it’s true: no one can do what Liz Perkins does!
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