Daddio is an interesting exercise. There are decent ideas here, some of them reductive, some of them thoughtful. The writing is alright; smart, if intermittently clunky. It’s the performances that make this worth watching. The setup is simple. A woman who has just returned to New York after a trip gets into a cab. Her and the cab driver, complete strangers to one another, proceed to have a lengthy conversation that gets progressively more personal.
That’s it. That’s the whole movie. There’s nothing twisty about the dialogue, though the revelations get a little melodramatic at times. It is simply two people talking, feeling more open than usual because they are unlikely to ever cross paths again. They sometimes feel like characters, sometimes vessels for topical talking points. It doesn’t always hit its mark, but Daddio isn’t boring. That’s an impressive feat for a story where the characters stay in one small location the entire time.
Casting is about 75% of the battle here. Sean Penn is Clark, who starts off seeming like a stereotypical New York cabbie. He’s very talkative, “tells it like it is” and knows how to read people. Dakota Johnson is the passenger, never named (she’s referred to as “Girlie” in the credits). She seems strong, intelligent and ready to go home and crash rather than deal with her emotional baggage. They begin with small talk, leading to gender politics, eventually settling on relationships. It borders on clichés at points and approaches, without quite achieving, insight at others. What makes it appealing are Penn and Johnson, who find a sweetness in their unexpected encounter.
Penn’s character is occasionally grating, occasionally amusing and occasionally comes off like a real person, as opposed to a series of opinions. He’s a type. The screenplay (by director Christy Hall) tries to use that as a starting point to surprise the audience, yet there isn’t enough depth to Clark for that to truly succeed. Johnson’s character feels more real, more vulnerable and has the more engaging emotional arc. She has far more compelling speeches, which works to the story’s benefit since she isn’t as loaded up with cultural hot takes. Both actors have a tough task getting viewers to forget about how confined they are. Johnson’ array of smiles (all with different meanings) does a lot of heavy-lifting here.
This is Christy Hall’s big screen debut as a writer and as a director. She struggles somewhat with the limitations the premise creates. She relies too much on close-ups, chipping away at the intimacy these two are sharing with each other and making it more about performance. Though the streets of New York are frequently shown, there is no sense of the city as a space they are moving through. It is merely the scenery that can be observed through the windows. This isn’t a particularly cinematic experience. It is pretty stage-y. The inconsistency of the writing doesn’t help.
However, Daddio (93 minutes, minus the end credits) perseveres despite its flaws thanks to several sharp exchanges and the talents of Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. Movies like this intrigue me because they are a bit of a high-wire act. While I wasn’t always sure Hall was going to make it safely to the other side, Daddio keeps its balance well enough.
3¼ out of 5
Cast:
Dakota Johnson as Girlie
Sean Penn as Clark
Written/Directed by Christy Hall
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