★★★ (3 out of 4)
Like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” Zoey Deutch plays Gail Daughtry, a plunky Kansas girl who is off to see the Wizard on the yellow-brick-roadless LA Freeway with the clear intention to have mad sex with him. In this case the Wiz is Hollywood hunk Jon Hamm, playing himself. So step up for “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” a wicked bonbon spiked with humor and heart that “Oz” creator Frank Baum never imagined.
It’s a celebrity sex pass deal Gail made with her high-school sweetheart fiancé Tom (Michael Cassidy) just two weeks before their wedding. Given the dubious prospect of either of them bagging a willing celeb, the pass sounds like the unlikeliest impure fantasy. Or so thought Gail. But then Tom, after chasing Tilda Swinton, lands Jennifer Aniston (I’ll never tell how). Gail is freaked out. On a hairdressing convention in L.A. with her gay best friend Otto (a terrific Miles Gutierrez-Riley), Gail half-heartedly at first goes on the hunt for Hamm, whom she crushed on when she was 16. Talk about over the rainbow.
Zoey Deutch and a cast of comic crazies springs surprises you won’t see coming. Even when the movie goes off the rails, it’s irresistible.
You probably don’t recall Dorothy’s erotic reveries in “The Wizard of Oz,” mostly because there weren’t any. But Dorothy needed companions on her quest. And so does Gail. Caleb (Ben Wang), a sympathetic talent agent, gets them Hamm’s address only to find that his house has been sold to Weird Al Yankovic, who pulls a gun on them. A paparazzo named Vincent (Ken Marino), also hunting Hamm, leads them to John Slattery, as himself, only to find that Slattery’s connection to Hamm, after seven seasons and 92 episodes of “Mad Men,” is no longer that tight. Love this! It’s Terrence (Tobie Windham), working security for Hamm, who gets Team Gail whisper close to the star at an LA hotel, but only if they help him pitch a movie that he desperately wants Hamm to star in. That’s Hollywood.
Convoluted? You ain’t heard nothing yet. What you need to hear right this instant is that “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” is the work of demented director David Wain and screenwriter Ken Marino—that’s right, the dude playing the sleazy photographer. These two are best known for 2001’s “Wet Hot American Summer,” a satire of ‘80s teen summer camp sex comedies that no one saw when it was first released but is now a certified cult classic with a cast on unknowns who we all know now. I’m talking about Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, you name it.
About now, you should realize what you’re in for. And you shouldn’t have to wait decades for “Sex Pass” to catch on. The jokes are scattershot but when they do hit, they’re hotly hilarious. Kudos to Hamm and Slattery, old friends who tease their celebrity to infinity and beyond. And cheers to the delightful Deutch for giving us someone to root for as Gail. She’s delicious. Who Gail has sex with should be left for you to discover. But I’m here to certify that this future cult classic with its cast of comic crazies springs surprises you won’t see coming. So ease on down the road to see it. Even when it goes off the rails, it’s irresistible.