Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is an immensely likable comedy that’s jam-packed with funny gags, minestrone soup, and phone computers. I love it.
2. Zoey Deutch rules.
3. Slat-Man!
4. More movies need to focus on small-town hairdressers traveling to Los Angeles to hook up with Jon Hamm.
5. Ben Wang, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ken Marino, and John Slattery should exclusively act with each other. They have wonderful chemistry.
6. I’d buy Jennifer Aniston’s cookbook.
7. I like it when it takes a long time to make a long story short.
8. It features the best foot-smashing scene of any 2026 film (so far).

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass tells the age-old story of what happens when a Kansas-based hairdresser named Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch) travels to Los Angeles so she can have sex with Jon Hamm. If you’ve ever wanted to see an interpretation of The Wizard of Oz from the mind of writer/director David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, They Came Together, Role Models), you’re in luck, because Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass features red shoes, a character named Otto (think about it), and a wicked Italian gangster who uses minestrone soup as a torture device. Also, it has nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz, but it makes me very happy that Wain and co-writer Ken Marino decided to make an Oz-esque film in which John “Slat-Man” Slattery is kicked in the balls. The end product is super likable and might be the most rewatchable movie released this year.

Kicking off in Kansas, Gail is about to get married to her high school crush, Tom Soursap McNoodleman (Michael Cassidy). Things quickly go awry when they attend a cookbook reading at a local bookstore headlined by Jennifer Aniston. After the reading, Gail catches Tom hooking up with Anniston because she’s his celebrity sex pass (It was Tilda Swinton, but Anniston’s charms changed his mind). Distraught over the friendly bookstore fling, Gail and her hairdresser friend Otto fly to Los Angeles so they can attend a convention featuring an appearance by Remy Fontaine (Thomas Lennon), the King of the Whip Curl. When they arrive, the duo visit McDonald’s, drink Starbucks coffee, and visit Psychic Journeys LLC Co-Owner Charlotte Manetti (Kerry Kenney-Silver), who tells Gail she should hook up with Jon Hamm to even the scales in her relationship.

During Gail and Otto’s journey, they meet a CAA junior staffer (Ben Wang), a celebrity photographer (Ken Marino), and a washed-up John “Slat-Man” Slattery. Together, the unlikely squad is almost shot by “Weird Al” Yankovic, and one of them gets their foot obliterated by a door (since it’s a Wain film, the bashing is excessively long). What follows is a journey that involves Italian assassins, swapped suitcases, sick threats, dozens of dead bodies, and a hot air balloon. It’s all very silly, but the actors are totally dedicated to Wain’s absurdity. The film was shot independently, and you can feel the budget being stretched, but the scrappy vibe fits the tone of the scrappy movie. While researching the production, I learned that Wain and Marino wrote the comedy during a seven-day binge-writing session, which feels right because the structure is very loose. However, after decades of writing and directing absurd comedies (with tiny budgets), Wain knows how to organize comedic elements into very funny experiences.

Zoey Deutch (Everybody Wants Some!!, Set It Up) fits perfectly in Wain’s world as she’s down for everything and has perfect comedic timing. Also, it’s nice seeing Ben Wang (The Long Walk, Karate Kid: Legends) and Miles Gutierrez-Riley (Smile 2, Agatha All Along) getting a chance to flex their comedic chops. The MVP of the film is John Slattery, who plays a version of himself who didn’t get any work after Mad Men. Slattery leans into the absurdity and gets a chance to become an action hero when he (and his obvious stunt double) beat up dozens of henchmen in an abandoned film set.

Final thoughts – It will put a big smile on your face. Watch it!