Zoey Deutch is a small-town Midwest girl with big dreams to even the scales with her fiancé to use her hall pass to have sex with celebrity crush Jon Hamm in this delightful, raunchy, and funny comedy that feels familiar yet fresh. Premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 25th, 2026, “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” is the fifth feature film by director David Wain to premiere at the festival.
The film is not your average sex comedy, playing more in line as a caper, taking that with wacky crime and fantasy elements, putting it in a class of its own for Wain’s fourth collaboration as co-writer and with star Ken Marino, following The Ten (2007), Role Models (2008), and Wanderlust (2012). Thank you to Casamigos for allowing us here at The Knockturnal to screen the film at Sundance.
Titular character Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch) is a good natured hairdresser from Kansas who world turns upside down once she finds out her fiancé Tom (Michael Cassidy) took his ”celebrity sex pass’’ joke too far when he used his pass she soon embarks on an ambitious and chaotic journey to track down and seduce celebrity crush, actor Jon Hamm (playing a fictionalized version of himself) in Los Angeles.
Gail Daughtry cleverly blends tropes prominent in both the screwball comedy era of the 30s and 2010s rom-com/sex comedies, never taking itself seriously with exaggerated and frenetic charm that draws you in right from the beginning. Zoey Deutch has become a familiar face in the rom-com and comedy genre as of late, in which she excels with perfect comedic timing, who quickly sheds her girl-next-door mask to do anything to go the extra mile.
In her sex quest, traveling with her best bud Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) she quickly amasses a group of unlikely allies to aid her, an inept snarky assistant of CAA, Caleb (Ben Wang), a down on his luck paparazzo Vincent (Ken Marino), and Hamm’s Mad Men co-star John Slattery also playing himself with leads to a fun reunion. Ludovica (Sabrina Impacciatore) is a ruthless mob boss, who sets in motion many of the film’s high-energy and absurd action scenes as our heroine Gail Daughtry has her bumbling henchmen (Joe Lo Truglio and Mather Zickel) on her trail after a briefcase is accidentally switched upon her arrival in the city of angels.
The film’s strength lies in its ensemble cast of largely comedy veterans who play well with and against each other. Wain and Marino’s script and direction bring out the best in each actor. The film doesn’t hold back, getting right into the action with its 93-minute runtime, and while the crime elements may overextend their welcome. This film remains enjoyable and makes you want to join in on this seemingly elaborate excuse to assemble the duo’s friends and contemporaries appearing as fun celebrity cameos, with the biggest of all being no other than a famous sitcom actress.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is one of the most fun offerings from this year’s Sundance that features other sex-tinged comedies (I Want Your Sex, Chasing Summer, and The Invite) that brought many laughs to the audiences of Park City and Salt Lake City in Utah and will be sure in many more screens nationwide and beyond as the film is currently seeking distribution.
3.5 out of five stars.
