[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
In Theaters Friday, July 10
A broad comedy farce with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass (GDCSP) never takes itself too seriously, and encourages its audience to take a similar approach. A romcom wrapped inside of a love letter to Hollywood and everything that makes it the nebulous, unknowable maker/breaker of careers, people, and souls, the movie revels in its embrace of the absurd. And while it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, for those tuned in to the frequency of its comedic pitch, and certainly for those making the thing, it’s one hell of a good time.
A mailman (Fred Melamed) in Willowbrook, KS narrates GDCSP, explaining that local high school sweethearts Gail (Zoey Deutch) and Tom (Michael Cassidy) are just weeks away from their nuptials. A joke between the couple about their free “sex pass” with a celebrity goes from abstract to reality when Gail walks in on Tom screwing Jennifer Aniston after a book signing, which encourages Gail to get out of town for a few days with her best friend and co-worker, Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley). The pair jet off to Los Angeles for a hairdresser conference where Gail gets a psychic reading encouraging her to seek out her own celebrity sex pass designee, Jon Hamm, and screw him to balance the scales of her relationship.
Gail and Otto’s search for Hamm brings the pair into the orbit of an organized crime syndicate, an agent in training at CAA, and a disgraced paparazzi: all of whom understand Gail’s mission and become involved in one way or another. No spoilers, but Gail and her cohort also run into a whole host of celebrities while in Hollywood, some for just a few seconds, yet their appearance gives GDCSP a distinct sense of place that keeps the story rooted in the heightened L.A. “reality” the script creates for this story. Anchoring it all is Deutch as the unflappable and irrepressible Gail, whose optimism and Midwest manners somehow keep all of this absurdity afloat and in motion towards Hamm.
David Wain directed and co-wrote GDCSP with his Wet Hot American Summer colleague Ken Marino, and the two movies share more than just cast/crew members. The notion of innocent, smalltown Gail’s resolute determination to screw an aloof celebrity is seemingly at odds with itself, yet if everything is a joke and there aren’t any tangible stakes to inhibit anything, then anything is possible and open to hilarity. This particular brand of comedy is more often delivered in smaller doses in scripted television a-la 30 Rock, Reno 911!, Brooklyn 99, or The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, yet like he did in Wet Hot American Summer, Wain manages to stretch the jokes into a cohesive, sustained narrative with GDCSP.
Wain and the movie pull this off because the script is equal parts clever and knowingly stupid, mixing rapid fire visual and physical comedy with lines like, “Sometimes we make exceptions to even the most important rules when celebrities are involved.” Every member of the cast knows their assignment and how to bolster their scene partner(s) as well, elevating the good material to great, and the great bits to gold. And while not every joke and plot conceit lands with the same degree of success, GDCSP takes enough swings to keep its overall batting average high.
Like baseball, though: this ain’t high art. Wain has some fun with a few action set pieces that are framed and staged okay enough, but they aren’t going to put him in line for the next Marvel or D.C. bed shitting, either. And while the same can be said about any number of classic comedies like The Naked Gun or Bridesmaids, things feel rougher around the edges during these stretches than what one would hope for. Also, though it is obvious that this thing was shot in southern California, for a movie about Hollywood, it would have been nice to see a bit more of it in GDCSP aside from the quick celebrity pop-ins and Grauman’s.
Cameos aside (and there’s a gaggle of fantastic ones), the cast are the key to putting the film over the finish line with room to spare. It’s the introduction of John Slattery, playing himself, that sends GDCSP to a whole other level, and like any project he is a part of, the actor steals the movie whenever he is on screen. And while others like Aniston and Hamm are hilarious as the bizarro-weird versions of themselves, the “Slat-Man” is unstoppable, here.
At a cool and crisp 90 minutes, GDCSP is refreshingly light on its feet and moves well through its story points to keep the narrative and its characters headed towards its raucous conclusion. Breezy in tone yet focused with its approach to gag set-ups and scenes, this doesn’t feel like a comedy cobbled together from “yes and” improv in the Apatow model. There’s a sense of deliberation running through the heart of GDCSP that might have capsized similar projects where this one becomes more buoyant because of it. It’s a tough trick to pull off, but like the humble, respectful pursuit of one’s celebrity crush, it is at least a fun story worth telling.
“Obvious Child” is the debut novel of Warren Cantrell, a film and music critic based out of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Cantrell has covered the Sundance and Seattle International Film Festivals, and provides regular dispatches for Scene-Stealers and The Playlist. Warren holds a B.A. and M.A. in History, and his hobbies include bourbon drinking, novel writing, and full-contact kickboxing.
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