Sundance 2026: Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Review – A Silly, Scattershot Hollywood Comedy
Amid the heavy-weighted seriousness of this year's Sundance Film Festival, featuring stories on sexual assault, climate change, opioid addiction, and dementia, there has been a remarkable influx of silliness. Perhaps recognising a desperate need for uplift, the festival has delivered a cartoonish dom-sub romance, a killer Barney horror, a pop star mockumentary, a Weekend at Bernie's-inspired art world caper, and a film where Olivia Colman engages with a man made of wicker. Yet, all these films appear stern-minded in comparison to David Wain's disposable, dopey comedy, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, a production devoid of serious moments and driven solely by the purpose of eliciting laughter.
Hit-and-Miss Humour in a Fast-Paced Lark
The film succeeds in fits and starts, with many viewers laughing more than at numerous comedies over the past year. However, its wild, scattershot humour proves hit and miss, with too many jokes falling flat, preventing it from achieving the rousing victory one might desire. Wain, known for toying with conventional studio comedies like Wanderlust and Role Models—the latter often hailed as one of the best examples of the form in the 2000s—as well as spoofs targeting 80s sex comedies in Wet Hot American Summer and rom-coms in They Came Together, places Gail Daughtry in the latter category. Yet, it lacks a direct aim, instead offering a Wizard of Oz-inspired, Hollywood-set action comedy that explores marriage, fame, espionage, and the burning desire to have sex with Jon Hamm.
Plot and Characters: A Journey of Revenge and Chaos
Gail, portrayed by Zoey Deutch, is a small-town woman with modest dreams who never considered sleeping with a celebrity until her fiancé has sex with his pick, Jennifer Aniston, at a book-signing event for her absurdly simple cookbook. Determined to get her own back, Gail heads to Hollywood with her closest friend Otto, played by Miles Gutierrez-Riley. After a briefcase mix-up, their quest intersects with a sinister megalomaniac, portrayed by Sabrina Impacciatore, and her unspecific nefarious plan. Along the way, Gail and Otto pick up an ambitious but incompetent wannabe agent (Ben Wang), a has-been paparazzi (Ken Marino), and an out-of-work John Slattery (John Slattery) as they hunt down Hamm while evading goons.
Commitment and Infectious Fun Amidst Flaws
The film is deeply, knowingly silly and inconsequential, feeling cobbled together last minute as a lark between friends—Wain stuffs the production with actors he has worked with previously. One imagines the laugh quotient might be higher for those closer to Wain's world, but its fast and frantic pace, leaping from so-so jokes to far better ones, makes it hard not to have some low-level fun. Genuinely amusing bits include Tobie Windham's standout performance as Hamm's assistant, with a bizarre backstory, threats to make people feel very sick, and the repeated slam of a foot in the door. Other highlights involve an eventually paid-off gag about Elizabeth Perkins, an all-hands-on-deck head in a soup gag, and a hotel receptionist's ridiculous tourist recommendations.
Rushed Feel and Aimlessness in Parody
However, the rushed feel of the film, which appears shot with the budget of a mid-awards show sketch, results in many lines or extended sequences feeling a few drafts away from something far funnier. More detail in asides or effectively absurdist silliness is desired, as choices often seem lazy or under-developed. Without a clearer target—other than a goofy riff on The Wizard of Oz or a poke at awful action comedies of the last decade—there is an aimlessness to it, a parody that fails to parody anything in particular.
Conclusion: The Silliest of Sundance's Sex Comedies
Everyone is committed to the bit, whatever it may be, and the infectious fun they are having sweeps viewers along. Sundance 2026 has been a big year for sex comedies, ranging from the good (Olivia Wilde's hilarious couple-swapping comedy The Invite) to the mid (Gregg Araki's Gen Z vs millennial romp I Want Your Sex) to the bafflingly generic (Iliza Schlesinger's dreadful by-the-numbers misfire Chasing Summer). Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass can proudly be named the silliest. She is just about worth tagging along with, although it is probably a journey you will forget you ever embarked upon. The film is screening at the Sundance Film Festival and is currently seeking distribution.
