A single location two hander is quite the undertaking for a feature directorial debut. But such is the path writer-director Christy Hall chose with Daddio. Add in the fact that the location in question is a cab, liming the visual appeal, and keeping the characters stationary for 99% of the movie, and you have very little margin for error. If nothing else, it makes for an exciting creative challenge, working within those constraints.
Daddio Plot
On paper, Daddio is about as simple as they come. Girlie (Dakota Johnson) lands at JFK Airport and gets in a cab to take her home to Manhattan. During the drive, she and her driver Clark (Sean Penn) engage in an unexpectedly deep and personal conversation, focusing on love and some of the important relationships – past and present – in both of their lives.
Daddio Critique
All movies hope their stars and leads bring their A game every time. But that becomes even more important in a movie like Daddio. When your two stars are not only your leads, but your only characters, even more of the movie’s success hinges on their performances. And that’s the best thing Daddio has going for it. Both Johnson and Penn are terrific.
Penn’s Clark is a man of strong opinions, who isn’t afraid to let loose, often talking at Girlie, rather than having a real conversation. Girlie begins more reserved, though she eventually opens up, telling Clark about her current relationship with a married man, seen identified only as “L” in Girlie’s phone.
Johnson has the more difficult role of the two, as she has the conversation with Clark while also texting/sexting L throughout the ride. They’re two very different conversations, forcing her to constantly switch back and forth minute to minute. Johnson’s physical acting comes through with the texting, with various facial expressions, eye movements, finger twitches.
Their conversation does hit some interesting points. Hall’s script has some worthwhile insights to digest about relationships, love, sex, and power dynamics. But it’s an odd flow. The conversation between Clark and Girlie flows easily from one topic to the next. But with uneven and sporadic engagement and debate from both characters, it still ends up feeling like they’re ticking off items on a checklist rather than having a natural conversation.
Even though it doesn’t always work, there is enough here to at least keep you engaged throughout. While the characters’ insights into its themes aren’t as deep as the script would like you to believe, the topics are something everyone can relate to. Even though you won’t have specific personal experiences for each and every one, you know where they’re both coming from, and you’ll likely have something from your life you can draw some sort of connection to. And again, the performances are strong enough to keep it all intermittently compelling.
And the characters themselves pique your interest as well. Clark and Girlie are two very different people. They’re from two different generations, and have lived two very different lives. There’s something naturally engrossing about a pairing like this discus personal issues and relevant social topics. If it’s just two people who agree on everything, there’s no tension, no drama, nothing interesting there. But here, at least Daddio gives us two characters whose ideologies are often at odds.
But it’s never adversarial. Sure, it might get more aggressive from time to time, but there’s a mutual respect between the two. And that’s not something we get as often as we should anymore, at least in real life. Whether you’re watching the news, scrolling social media, wherever, you often see one of two things. One, the people in the conversation have the same viewpoints. Or two, they disagree but it’s combative, and there’s nothing constructive happening.
Not every conversation has to turn into an all-serious debate where your only goal is to convince the other person to abandon their beliefs and come to your side. Without spoiling anything, at the end of the ride, Girlie doesn’t all of a sudden agree with everything Clark has said. But she now has some different perspectives to consider. More interactions should be like this one.
In Conclusion
Daddio’s concept is an interesting one, and perhaps would have been better suited to a short film. But there’s just not enough meat on the bone to fill out its full 100 minute runtime. Johnson and Penn’s both put forth committed performances. And the familiarity audiences will have with the characters and their conversations could provide some strong emotional connections. While it’s not a complete success, Christy Hall demonstrates enough talent behind the camera to be excited for what she does next.
Daddio hits theaters on June 28.
6/10
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