Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Is Great, Dumb Fun

Sundance Film Review: Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Director: David Wain
Likely Story, Oval-5 Inc.
Premiere: 01.25.2026

It’s been a rough week in America, even at Sundance Film Festival, where Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost was the target of a racially motivated assault. The atmosphere has been heavy, and people have been in need of a release and a good, hearty laugh. Enter David Wain and Ken Marino with the unapologetically stupid and riotously funny Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.

Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague) is Gail Daughtry, a plucky, upbeat, Midwestern bride-to-be whose life tilts off balance when her fiancé cashes in their jokey “celebrity pass” agreement with a real movie star. Stunned but determined to reclaim her dignity, Gail flies to Los Angeles to use her own pass, setting her sights on her long-time crush, Jon Hamm, playing himself. Joined by her fiercely loyal best friend, she plunges into the surreal machinery of Hollywood, bouncing between parties, agents, hangers-on and increasingly absurd mishaps. What begins as a quest for romantic revenge spirals into a chaotic road trip movie through celebrity culture, exposing Gail to hard truths about desire, fairness and self-worth. As the wedding clock ticks, Gail must decide whether evening the score is worth losing sight of what she actually wants.

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is a zany, unhinged, gloriously bonkers comedy that has no interest in prestige or awards-season polish, and that’s precisely its charm. Director and co-writer David Wain marks the 25th anniversary of the Sundance premiere of Wet Hot American Summer with another movie that isn’t trying to be profound, just very entertaining. It’s a loud, goofy, cheerfully ridiculous sendup of pop culture, Hollywood narcissism and the deeply silly fantasy of celebrity sex passes pushed to absurd extremes with glee. The jokes come at you fast, the tone is unapologetically cartoonish and the film’s refusal to take itself seriously becomes a small act of rebellion in an era of self-important entertainment. It’s not here to win Oscars; it’s here to make you laugh until you feel lightheaded, then laugh some more. In a week full of bleak headlines and grinding dread, this kind of joyful nonsense feels less like a diversion and more like a minor act of self-care — the kind of comedy that plays best late at night with a raucous crowd.

The performances fully lean into the film’s cartoon logic, starting with Deutch, who makes Gail an adorably wacky, wide-open force of nature, blending screwball energy with a sincerity that keeps the chaos grounded. Deutch plays her like a woman running on pure emotional caffeine, fearless in her commitment to every bad idea, yet never losing our sympathy as the world spins faster around her. Just as delightful is John Slattery (Iron Man 2, Nuremberg), who shines as a hilariously pathetic, self-pitying fictional version of himself, enlisted to help track down his former Mad Men co-star. Watching Slattery gleefully puncture his own cool-guy persona is a running joke all its own, and the contrast between his sad-sack vanity and Deutch’s buoyant optimism becomes one of the film’s great comic pleasures.

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is no Josephine, and it doesn’t need to be. We need the medical power of laughter right now as much as we ever have, and we need a lot more comedies playing in theaters. This one deserves theatrical distribution, and you deserve to see it in a late-night viewing packed with friends and strangers looking to escape into the right kind of stupidity. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more SLUG’s coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival