Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: David Wain
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ben Wang, Sabrina Impaciatore
The latest movie to draw inspiration from The Wizard of Oz is director David Wain's absurdist comedy Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. Here the Dorothy Gale surrogate is Gail Daughtry (see what they did there), Hollywood stands in for Oz, the wicked witch is an Italian mobster, and the friends Gail makes along the way are an assortment of misfits all trying to make their way in Tinseltown.
Kansas hairdresser Gail (Zoey Deutch) has an agreement with her fiancé Tom (Michael Cassidy) that they each get a pass to sleep with their respective celebrity crushes should the unlikely opportunity ever arise. Gail is shocked however when Tom manages to cash in and get jiggy with Jennifer Aniston while she's in town for a book signing. Deciding the only way to save her relationship is to even the score, Gail travels to Los Angeles with fellow hairdresser Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) on a quest to sleep with her own celeb crush, Jon Hamm.
What follows roughly mimics the narrative of Wizard of Oz as a red shoe clad Gail (and her little friend too) is joined by struggling young wannabe agent Caleb (Ben Wang), over the hill paparazzo Vincent (co-writer Ken Marino) and Hamm's Mad Men co-star John Slattery, who in this version of reality is a washed-up bundle of neuroses.
While its primary influence is a classic movie from 1939, Gail Daughtry owes much to the sort of whacky comedies that were popular from the late '70s to the early '90s. Much of it resembles the knockabout buddy films Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder starred in as a double act, especially when a subplot involving an Italian gangster (Sabrina Impacciatore) and a pair of switched briefcases comes into play. Wain and Marino's film leans heavily into the popular '80s trope of the fish out of water, a throwback to all those movies that saw outsiders dropped into American cities. It does for Hollywood what Crocodile Dundee did for New York and San Francisco did for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Much of the humour comes from Gail's fascination with the mundanity of Los Angeles, like when a hotel clerk recommends she visit McDonalds, Starbucks and 7/11 to get the real LA experience.
The approach to comedy here is of the "anything goes" variety. The absurdism is dialled up to a point that allows Wain and Marino freedom to turn anything into a joke, regardless of whether it makes sense. The movie is packed with celebrity cameos, which can often be annoying when they're inserted simply for the sake of it. How many times have you seen a bad comedy where a celebrity cameo takes the place of a joke, as if the very notion of someone famous playing themself is reason enough to laugh? But Wain and Marino make good use of their celeb guests, and the cameoing stars have a lot of fun playing outrageous versions of themselves (all save for a pointless Paul Rudd appearance). Channelling the cowardly lion, Slattery is especially hilarious.
Gail Daughtry takes the Zucker Brothers' approach of throwing out so many gags that even if only one in three land you'll have plenty to laugh at. The hit rate is probably a little higher here, though a few gags are overplayed as if the filmmakers are worried the audience won't immediately get the joke. For the most part this is a splendidly silly blast, all held together by a central performance from one of our most charming working actresses. Stick around for some bonus hilarity post-credits.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is in UK/ROI cinemas from September 4th.
