There are so many movies that come to mind that do the (mostly) single location idea and manage to execute it with varied results: Saw (2004), The Boys in the Band (1970 or 2004), Locke (2013), The Terminal (2004), to name a few. Christy Hall’s first feature Daddio, treats audiences to another mostly singular location film that focuses on the characters and not much else. While the location for the movie is certainly an usual choice, it allows the film to breathe and focus on the facet of human emotions and connection versus anything else. Daddio feels entirely like it was conceived as a play but was turned into a movie. While the performances are fantastic, the overall message and ideas in the film are more of a flat tire than anything else.
Dakota Johnson as Girlie in DADDIO. Photo credit: Phedon Papamichael. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
While the film starts off with Girlie (Dakota Johnson) walking out of JFK and telling the cabstand attendant she is going to 44th between 9th and 10th, the following 97-odd minutes is focused on her ride in the cab. A relatively inconspicuous and rather uninteresting series of events, taking a ride from the airport to your destination, things slowly start to change. Immediately we see Girlie sending text messages to an unknown man, but clearly someone she is somehow involved with. This is all until Clark (Sean Penn) decides to start making small talk, rather inconspicuous and uninteresting at first, but that eventually takes a turn. Clark decides to call Girlie out for the fact that he’s completely aware that she is a New Yorker and she decides to take the bait and ask how he’s aware. So he plays his hand on how he can read people, being a cab driver and all, but it’s the fact that she’s going midtown, a specific address, not a hotel name, isn’t checking the meter because she knows it’s a flat rate, and so forth. Eventually, the two start to hit a stride and conversation becomes more fluid, that is until the road to midtown is eventually closed and they’re stuck in complete and utter gridlock. The conversation moves into much more personal territory as they play a sick game of one-upping one another, wanting to see who can tell the more messed up stories and offer some advice on each other’s situations — more specifically Clark shedding light and insight onto Girlie’s situation.
Sean Penn as Clark in in DADDIO. Photo credit: Phedon Papamichael. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
What makes Daddio work are the performances from Dakota Johnson (The Peanut Butter Falcon) and Sean Penn (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). The two of them manage to create something heartfelt, heartbreaking, and powerful out of something so mundane and usually uninteresting. Without giving away too much about what the conversations are and what matters in the film, the juxtaposition between both of their current living situations and life situations is what makes the film so engaging. There is an age difference and Clark, having been through the situation Girlie finds herself in, provides insight (whether proven right or wrong), which brings a level of humanity and chaos to the forefront of the film.
The performances from both Penn and Johnson make Daddio feel human. There is nothing nearly almost as freeing as talking to a complete stranger, someone who has zero stakes in what you’re going through or your opinion of them, so it’s complete unadulterated honest truth and opinion. Johnson demonstrates the feeling of being in between a rock and a hard place with her situation, listening to the advice Penn gives her, and making her own decision, whether she agrees with it or not. There is so much humanity and heart that is packed into Daddio, but there is one singular issue that lays at the center of this story.
Sean Penn as Clark in in DADDIO. Photo credit: Phedon Papamichael. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
The issue with the story of Daddio is that it doesn’t entirely go anywhere. Nothing is life-or-death, nothing is that even particularly tragic. The situation Girlie finds herself in is heart-breaking, but it seems she almost doesn’t care at some point. There should be something more heartfelt and grounded than just the remedies of a heart; it lacks something compelling. Which is ultimately the downfall of Daddio. While life itself is not always chaotic and the simplest of messy situations can be the worst situation, it doesn’t compel on screen as much as it should. We’re waiting for that jaw-drop moment that just, unfortunately, never comes to fruition.
Dakota Johnson as Girlie in DADDIO. Photo credit: Phedon Papamichael. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Daddio finds its groove and heart within Johnson and Penn’s performances, but hits its gridlock when stuck in the mundanity of every-day human issues. Without the complexity of something truly chaotic and messy, the movie lacks the emphasis to create a reaction from the audience. Whether we agree with whatever decisions Girlie does or does not make, the lack of surprise or further development leaves the suspense at the door and just makes the audience stew in the human factor of life. While life is not always clean-cut and dry, Daddio is certainly captivating and engaging, just lacking that excess that brings it past ordinary life.
In theaters June 28th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Sony Pictures Classics Daddio webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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