Review: 'Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass' is a maniacally funny romp through Hollywood's desperate strivers

Ridiculously raunchy and spectacularly silly, “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” is the sort of happily nonsensical and cameo-riddled comedy as one would expect from director David Wain and his friends who gave the world “Wet Hot American Summer.”

Gail Daughtry, our titular heroine (played by Zoey Deutch), is a perky Kansas hairdresser who’s very excited to marry her sweetheart since childhood, Tom (Michael Cassidy), in a few weeks. Their relationship is so picture-perfect that even an idle conversation about their “celebrity sex pass” — the one famous person either could have consequence-free sex with — wouldn’t affect them. Until Tom runs into, and fornicates with, the celebrity on his list. (No spoilers about who the celebrity is.)

Gail is appalled at first, but then resolute to save her impending marriage — by finding and bedding her celebrity sex pass partner, the ruggedly handsome Jon Hamm. By coincidence, or the designs of Wain and co-screenwriter Ken Marino, Gail’s salon pal Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) is heading to Los Angeles for a hairdresser convention, so Gail goes along to begin her quest.

The search for Jon Hamm leads Gail to befriend an odd array of characters along the way: Caleb (Ben Wang), a talent-agency intern; Vincent (played by Marino), a washed-up paparazzo; and Hamm’s former co-star Jon Slattery (played by Slattery), who seems to have hit hard times since “Mad Men” ended its run.

Meanwhile, because of a see-it-a-mile-away suitcase mix-up, Gail has a couple of Mafia hitmen (Joe Lo Truglio and Mather Zickel) tailing them, to retrieve something belonging to their wicked crime boss (Sabrina Impacciatore).

It doesn’t take long to realize what classic movie Wain and Marino are using as their plot framework. (A girl from Kansas named Gail — do the math.) One of the delights here is how they stick to that plan, referencing the movie that dare not speak its name in cleverly stupid (or stupidly clever) ways.

This being a Hollywood story, it’s no surprise that Gail and her pals run into movie stars — and Wain finds funny and outrageous ways to feature them for laughs. Wain also calls in favors, with former colleagues from the sketch comedy show “Stella” and from “Wet Hot American Summer” in some offbeat cameos.

The absurd humor veers wildly from hilarious to inappropriate. The constant that keeps it all flowing is Deutch, who gives Gail improbably sunny disposition that masks how slyly funny the actor is. Deutch gives “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” the charisma get-out-of-jail free card this sometimes bonkers comedy needs.

——

‘Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, July 10, in theaters. Rated R for sexual content, violence/bloody images and language. Running time: 93 minutes.